BL162.0  .R72  | 

Rogers,  Robert  Wiliiani,  1864-1930. 
Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  especi; 
in  ils  relations  io  Israel:  live  lectures  delivt 


1909 


:r^'5 


'*«*^fe3<    ■  ->' 


f*     OCT  12  1909 

THE  RELIGION  OF  ^^%i£i^ 
BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

ESPECIALLY  IN  ITS  RELATIONS 
TO  ISRAEL 


FIVE  LECTURES  DELIVERED  AT  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

ROBERT  WILLIAM  ROGERS 

PH.D.  (LEIPZIG),  LITT.D..  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S. 

Professor  in  Drew  Theological  Seminary;   Author  of  "A  History  of  Babylonia 
and  Assyria"  in  Two  Volumes 


NEW  YORK:   EATON   &   MAINS 
CINCINNATI:  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 

1908 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
EATON  &  MAINS. 


TO 

JOSEPH  ASHBROOK 

OF  PHILADELPHIA 

COUNSELOR  OF  MY  YOUTH 

FRIEND  OF  MY  MANHOOD 


CONTENTS 

LECTURE   I 

PAGE 

The  Recovery  op  a  Lost  Religion 1 

LECTURE  II 
The  Gods  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria 49 

LECTURE  III 
The   Cosmologies 99 

LECTURE  IV 
The   Sacred  Books 142 

LECTURE  V 
The  Myths  and  Epics 185 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Babylonian  Demons.    British  Museum Frontispiece 

FIGURE  PAGE 

I.  The  Angel  of  Light  in  Conflict  with  a  Dragon 55 

II.  List  of  Names  and  Titles  of  Gods 79 

III.  The  Sun  God  (Shamash)  of  Sippar 84 

IV.  Statue  of  the  God  Nabu 86 

V.  Fragment  of  the  First  Tablet  op  Creation 107 

VI.  The  Second  Tablet  of  Creation 113 

VII.  The  Third  Tablet  of  Creation 117 

VIII.  The  Fourth  Tablet  of  Creation 120 

IX.  The  Fifth  Tablet  of  Creation 128 

X.  The  Sixth  Tablet  of  Creation 129 

XI.  The  Seventh  Tablet  of  Creation 130 

XII.  Two  Incantation  Tablets 144 

XIII.  Babylonian  Demons 147 

XIV.  Incantation  Tablet,  Maqlu  III 154 

XV.  The  Descent  op  Ishtar  to  Hades.     Obverse 191 

XVI.  The  Descent  of  Ishtar  to  Hades.     Reverse 194 

XVII.  The  Story  of  the  Deluge.     Obverse 199 

XVIII.  The  Story  op  the  Deluge.     Reverse 202 

XIX.  The  Story  of  the  Deluge.     Obverse 204 

XX.  The  Story  of  the  Deluge.     Reverse 206 

Figure  I  is  taken  from  1,.  W.  King,  Babylonian  Religion  and 
Mythology,  London,  1903,  by  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Kegan 
Paul,  Trench,  Trubner  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  London. 

Figure  XVIII  is  taken  from  R.  Campbell  Thompson,  The  Devils 
and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia,  London,  1903,  by  kind  permission  of 
Messrs.  Luzac  &  Co.,  London. 

All  the  remaining  illustrations  are  made  from  the  copyright 
photographs  of  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co.,  405  Oxford  Street,  London, 
W.,  without  whose  permission  they  must  not  be  reprinted. 

vii 


Viii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIGURES  IN  THE  TEXT 

PAGE 

1 .  The  First  Cuneiform  Signs  ever  Copied 25 

2.  The  First  Fersepolis  Inscriptions  Copied  Entire 25,  26 

3.  The  Inscriptions  Deciphered  by  Grotefend 27,  28 

4.  The  P*rocess  of  Decipherment  Word  by  Word 29-33 

5.  Three  Tablets  with  the  Name  of  Jahweh 91 

The  figures  of  the  three  tablets  with  the  name  of  Jahweh,  and  the 
Assyrian  characters  upon  them,  on  page  91,  are  reproduced  from 
Friedrich  Delitzsch,  Babel  und  Bibel,  Erster  Vortrag,  5te  Aufiage, 
Leipzig,  1905,  pp.  49,  50,  by  kind  permission  of  the  J.  C.  Hin- 
richs'sche  Buchhandlung. 


PREFACE 

In  the  month  of  July,  1908,  I  delivered  at 
Harvard  University,  in  the  Summer  School  of 
Theology,  five  lectures  which  are  now  put  into 
this  Uttle  book.  They  are  printed  substantially 
as  they  were  delivered,  though  a  few  passages 
have  been  several  times  rewritten  in  an  earnest 
endeavor  after  lucidity  and  cogency.  I  am 
grateful  to  my  Harvard  colleagues  for  this 
pleasant  opportunity  to  associate  myself  for 
even  a  brief  season  with  a  great  school  of 
scholars  with  whom  my  relations  have  always 
been  friendly,  and  from  whom  I  have  had  much 
stimulus  and  not  a  little  encouragement.  But 
for  their  courteous  invitation  I  should  probably 
not  have  turned  aside  from  other  labors  to 
write  this  little  essay. 

Since  1883  all  the  time  that  I  have  been  able 
to  reserve  from  bread-earning  labor  has  gone 
into  Assyrian  investigation.  In  that  brief  pe- 
riod I  have  seen  the  science  of  Assyriology 
expand  from  a  small  discipline  chiefly  philolog- 
ical in  character,  unprovided  even  with  a  print- 
ed lexicon,  into  a  vast  complex  of  philology, 
archaeology,  anthropology,  and  cultural,  politi- 
cal, and  religious  history.  No  one  man  can  any 
longer  have  equal  command  in    every  portion 


X  PREFACE 

of  a  field  so  extensive,  and  what  was  once  a 
single  subject  is  now  perforce  divided  into  many 
specialties.  Almost  from  the  beginning  my  own 
studies  were  carried  chiefly  into  the  historical 
side  of  Assyriology — a  great  field  in  itself,  and 
ever  filled  with  surprises.  From  an  unsym- 
pathetic narrowness  I  have  been  delivered  by 
the  calling  which  bade  me  teach  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  Hebrew  to  successive  companies  of 
young  men.  The  history  of  the  Babylonians 
and  Assyrians  played  well  into  the  teaching  of 
those  Hebrew  prophets,  whose  preaching  has 
Babylonian,  Assyrian,  and  Chaldean  kings  and 
armies  for  a  background.  The  Old  Testament 
religion  also  early  quickened  my  interest  in  the 
religion  of  the  great  peoples  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates,  with  whom  Israel  had  so  many 
common  experiences.  With  s)niipathetic  inter- 
ests, therefore,  both  in  history  and  in  religion, 
among  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians  on  the 
one  side,  as  also  in  the  Old  Testament  upon 
the  other,  I  have  lived  daily  for  years  in  an 
ever  fresh  readjustment  of  my  views  concerning 
their  mutual  relationship.  Nothing  written  by 
any  serious  student,  who  had  made  an  effort  to 
understand  either  side  of  this  great  problem, 
found  me  with  unawakened  interest.  My  pupils 
have  revealed  to  me  their  difficulties,  and  these 
have  been  constantly  an  incitement  to  new 
effort.  My  occasional  intercourse  with  Pro- 
fessor Morris  Jastrow,  on  this  side  of  the  At- 


PREFACE  xl 

lantic,  and  my  close  friendship  with  Professors 
Friedrich  Delitzsch,  of  BerHn,  Karl  Marti,  of 
Bern,  and  A.  H.  Sayce,  of  Oxford,  on  the  other 
side,  have  kept  this  interest  in  a  glow  of  enthu- 
siasm. These  lectures,  however  inadequate  they 
may  finally  seem  to  be,  were  written  and 
delivered  in  a  white  heat,  and  represent  all 
that  I  can  now  do  in  helping  others  to  a  vivid 
picture  of  Israel's  religious  association  with 
Babylonia,  or  in  solving  the  extremely  difficult 
problems  which  recent  research,  critical,  archaeo- 
logical, and  religious,  have  put  before  us.  That 
the  solutions  which  I  here  offer  are  final  I  do 
not  dream  for  a  moment;  that  they  are  worth 
consideration  I  firmly  believe;  that  they  have 
helped  me  I  know.  I  have  tried  honestly  to 
give  credit  for  all  that  I  have  taken  from 
others.  If  I  have  carried  off  unacknowledged 
some  precious  bit  of  another's  work  I  shall  be 
sorry,  and  ready  to  apologize.  If  I  have  over- 
looked a  side  liglit  that  might  illuminate  a 
dark  corner  the  next  comer  will  be  pretty  certain 
to  take  cheerful  pleasure  in  gently  indicating 
my  delinquency. 

The  book  has  a  peculiarity  which  may  per- 
haps need  a  word  of  justification.  The  citations 
from  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  texts  are  very 
long.  This  interrupts  the  argument  in  a  good 
many  places,  and  in  some  makes  the  book  dull 
reading.  The  reason  for  this  new  departure  is 
simple  enough.     Everybody  who  has  studied 


xii  PREFACE 

the  great  and  growing  literature  of  the  history 
of  religions  must  have  noticed  how  easy  it  is 
to  prove  almost  anything  if  one  only  cites,  in 
illustration  or  in  proof,  a  passage  short  enough. 
Not  a  few  writers  have  discovered  fine  spiritual 
values  in  ancient  religious  material  and  have 
defended  their  existence  by  citing  only  a  few 
lines  of  a  hjrmn  or  a  legend.  If  the  whole  con- 
text had  been  given  the  spiritual  essence  would 
have  vanished  out  into  a  mere  physical  plaint. 
It  will  probably  not  be  said  that  I  have  failed 
to  give  the  whole  color  and  movement  and 
meaning  by  quoting  too  briefly.  Whether  I 
have  correctly  understood  their  bearing  or  not 
must  be  decided  by  others.  As  to  the  transla- 
tions, I  can  only  say  that  most  of  them  have 
grown,  and  were  not  made  especially  for  this 
volimiie.  I  have  been  working  over  the  original 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  texts  for  years,  filUng 
notebooks  with  translations  or  essays  in  trans- 
lation, changing,  correcting,  improving,  testing 
every  word  by  its  appearance  in  newly  published 
texts,  and  by  every  new  discovery  of  other  schol- 
ars. I  have  read  portions  of  them  aloud  in  hun- 
dreds of  public  lectures,  or  in  classroom  work.  I 
hope  that  they  represent  pretty  fairly  what  can 
be  done  with  the  passages  to-day.  That  they 
could  be  improved  in  many  places  I  do  not 
doubt.  It  is  always  easier  to  correct  another's 
work  than  one's  own.  But  I  have  tried  to 
consider  every  suggestion  and  every  translation 


PREFACE  xiu 

which  have  been  published  by  others.  My  obH- 
gations  to  them  for  a  suggestive  word  here,  or 
a  Hne  there,  I  have  tried  to  acknowledge  by 
numerous  references,  but  I  fear  inadequately. 
It  is  sometimes  impossible  to  remember  where 
one  first  secured  the  best  English  word  for  an 
Assyrian  equivalent.  Sometimes  the  same  word 
or  phrase  has  been  used  by  many  translators. 
Texts  often  translated,  such,  for  example,  as  the 
deluge  story,  tend  naturally  to  a  certain  uni- 
formity of  expression.  In  general,  however,  I 
wish  here  to  express  particular  gratitude  for  the 
help  that  King's  translations  of  the  creation  tab- 
lets have  been  to  me.  Nobody  will  soon  again 
be  able  to  render  those  difficult  texts  without 
leaning  much  upon  him.  If  the  arguments  I 
have  advanced,  or  repeated,  concerning  Israel's 
relation  to  Babylonia  seem  inadequate;  if  the 
picture  I  have  presented  of  the  Babylonian  re- 
ligion be  judged  imperfect,  perhaps  nevertheless 
some  passer-by  may  find  these  very  carefully 
prepared  translations  useful  in  making  up  his 
own  judgment  or  painting  his  own  picture. 

Professor  Sayce  kindly  read  the  entire  book  in 
manuscript,  and  made  a  number  of  suggestions 
for  its  improvement.  It  would  perhaps  be  a 
better  book  if  I  had  adopted  more  of  them,  but 
I  wished  it  to  express  my  own  thinking  what- 
ever the  issue  might  be.  It  was,  however,  his 
kind  and  warm  encouragement  which  helped 
much  toward  my  resolve  to  publish  it. 


xiv  PREFACE 

To  all  who  would  fain  secure  some  help  from 
another  in  this  difficult  field  I  offer  this  little 
book,  knowing  well  its  limitations,  and  desiring 
only  to  serve  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness. The  happy  people  who  have  found  no 
difficulties  in  the  Old  Testament  while  they 
surveyed  it  in  the  light  which  now  shines  upon 
it  from  Babylonia  and  Assyria  need  not  trouble 
themselves  to  read  it;  it  is  not  for  them  that 
it  was  written,  nor  was  it  delivered,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  such  as  they. 

Robert  W.  Rogers. 

Madison,  New  Jersey, 
October  22,  1908. 


LECTURE  I 

THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION 

There  are  few  subjects  that  engage  the 
human  mind  more  fraught  with  Hving,  moving 
interest  than  the  reUgions  of  mankind.  To 
survey  the  faiths  that  are  now  potent  among 
men,  to  see  how  much  they  have  to  say  of  the 
deep  things  that  agitate  the  human  breast,  to 
gather  up  into  systematic  form  their  message 
of  God,  their  struggle  after  righteousness,  their 
yearning  after  a  Hfe  beyond  the  grave — these 
are  themes  that  yield  nothing  in  interest  or 
importance  to  anything  that  has  ever  engaged 
the  thought  of  busy  men.  But  even  more 
thrilling  is  the  interest  awakened  when  we 
turn  back  into  the  history  of  these  faiths.  To 
trace  the  multiform  sects  of  modern  Moham- 
medanism from  Syria  and  Egypt  and  Persia 
and  India  over  mountain  and  sea  and  plain 
back  to  that  tremendous  impulse  of  Moham- 
med himself  amid  those  waste  uplands  and 
dour  tawny  deserts  of  Arabia — who  will  deny 
that  this  is  a  task  worthy  our  best  effort,  and 
filled  with  a  reward  all  its  own?  Nay,  to  go 
far  beyond  even  this  mighty  and  lonesome 
man  of  the  desert,  to  search  out  the  motives 


2  RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

of  early  Arabic  heathenism,  to  seek  the  strains 
of  influence  of  Judaism  and  of  Christianity  upon 
the  prophet's  mind,  here  is  a  call  for  keen 
analysis,  for  great  power  of  generalization  and 
combination,  and  for  a  glow  of  emotion  and  of 
imagination. 

Not  to  these  high  and  difficult  pursuits  in 
the  study  of  a  living  faith  do  I  invite  your 
attention,  but  to  faiths  dead,  save  in  surviving 
ideas  or  motives  in  other  religions;  not  to  the 
present  but  to  the  past;  not  to  questions  open 
before  our  eyes,  discussed  in  temples  and 
shrines,  but  to  matters  long  since  stilled  by 
Time's  hand.  But  I  make  no  apology  for  these 
ancient  and  silent,  these  remote  and  dead  faiths. 
They  also  have  their  message,  and  it  yields  no 
palm  of  interest  to  the  study  even  of  Moham- 
medanism. The  religion  of  Babylonia  and  As- 
syria is  indeed  a  faith  without  living  worshipers, 
gone  amid  the  mists  that  cloud  the  most  pene- 
trating vision,  but  its  sacred  books,  badly 
broken  amid  the  crash  of  time,  are  once  again 
in  our  hands.  Its  truth  is  not  lost,  but  living 
still  in  other  faiths.  Its  gods  are  mentioned  in 
the  greater  sacred  books  of  the  Hebrews.  Its 
plea  for  the  surcease  of  remorse,  for  relief  from 
the  agony  of  sin,  finds  still  an  echo  in  our  hearts. 
If  indeed  the  history  of  man  be  a  subject  of 
undying  interest,  surely  the  history  of  the 
religious  development  of  the  millions  of  gifted 
and  virile  men  who  made  Babylon  and  Nineveh 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  3 

centers  of  world  concourse  and  power  may 
well  stir  our  pulses  and  quicken  our  thought. 
But  if  this  subject  be  full  of  interest,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  it  is  likewise  full  of 
difficulty,  and  this  characteristic  must  not  be 
overlooked. 

It  is  but  a  few  short  years  since  the  mounds 
that  covered  the  sites  of  ancient  Nineveh  and 
Babylon  began  to  give  up  their  secrets.  It 
was  long  before  men  could  decipher,  and  then 
laboriously  and  slowly  read,  the  records  which 
the  explorer  recovered.  At  first  the  decipherer 
chose  out  the  easier  texts,  the  better  preserved, 
the  more  immediately  interesting.  In  this  proc- 
ess the  religious  texts,  by  far  the  more  diffi- 
cult to  read  and  to  interpret,  had  to  wait  until 
the  last.  And  even  now  these  texts  are  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  master;  they  confront  us 
daily  with  problems  still  insoluble  and  the 
workers  are  few.  The  day  is  still  distant  when 
it  will  be  possible  to  present  in  detail  an  organ- 
ized and  scientific  picture  of  the  ancient  re- 
ligion of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians.  The 
knowledge  that  we  do  possess  is  indeed  frag- 
mentary; in  many  points  disputed,  in  much 
obscure.  But  no  science  makes  progress  by 
waiting  for  completion;  men  must  ever  present 
such  knowledge  as  they  possess  at  the  moment^ 
must  paint  such  a  picture  as  the  imagination 
may  be  able  to  produce  from  the  materials  at 
hand,   and   from   the   conjectures  which   they 


4  RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

suggest.  In  this  way  alone  shall  we  come  to 
higher  knowledge. 

Besides  all  this,  there  is  upon  us  another 
pressure,  urging  us  onward  to  the  study  of 
this  ancient  faith.  We  are  never  able  to  forget 
that  these  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  were 
closely  akin  to  the  Hebrews.  Even  the  super- 
ficial reader  finds  numerous  points  of  contact 
with  them,  and  to  him  who  searches  deeply, 
the  Old  Testament  is  seen  to  have  many  a  pas- 
sage upon  which  the  religion  of  the  two  great 
neighboring,  though  hostile,  peoples  may  shed 
some  valuable  light. 

And  so,  impelled  by  the  thirst  for  new  knowl- 
edge, however  alien  to  our  everyday  thoughts, 
and  urged  onward  by  the  hope  of  seeing  the 
religion  of  the  Old  Testament  in  a  new  and 
clearer  light,  let  us  begin  to  study  the  religion 
of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  especially  in  its  re- 
lations to  the  religion  of  Israel. 

But  we  cannot  hope  adequately  to  under- 
stand the  religion  unless  we  have  before  us  a 
clear  picture  of  the  sources  from  which  our 
knowledge  is  drawn,  and  as  these  sources  are 
chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  inscriptions  we  can- 
not understand  them  unless  we  make  plain  to 
our  minds  the  twin  processes  of  discovery  and 
decipherment  which  have  made  these  inscrip- 
tions accessible  to  us. 

The  process  of  discovery  and  decipherment^ 

1  The  most  detailed  account  of  hoth  discovery  and  decipherment  is 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  5 

are  often  parallel  and  nearly  always  contempo- 
raneous, but  we  shall  do  well  to  follow  first, 
and  very  briefly,  the  processes  of  discovery. 

I.  It  was  in  the  Middle  Ages  that  men  began 
to  travel  over  the  great  valleys  of  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates,  seeking  some  signs  of  its  former 
magnificence  and  power.  Perhaps  the  earliest 
of  the  intelligent  travelers  was  the  rabbi  Ben- 
jamin, son  of  Jonah,  of  the  city  of  Tudela  in  the 
kingdom  of  Navarre.  He  set  out  from  home 
about  1160  A. D.,  and  journeyed  overland  across 
Spain  and  France  and  Italy.  Thence  he  passed 
on  to  Greece  and  to  Constantinople.  After 
visiting  the  sacred  places  in  Palestine  he  went 
over  the  desert,  by  way  of  Tadmor,  to  Mosul 
on  the  Tigris.  What  a  wonderful  journey  that 
was,  in  that  distant  day!  At  Mosul  he  wrote 
in  his  journal  these  words:  "This  city,  situated 
on  the  confines  of  Persia,  is  of  great  extent  and 


found  in  Rogers,  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  vol.  i.  New  York, 
1900.  The  most  exhaustive  account  of  the  decipherment  is  given  in 
Arthur  John  Booth,  The  Discovery  and  Decipherment  of  the  Trilingual 
Cuneiform  Inscriptions.  London,  1902.  A  most  valuable  and  pains- 
taking work.  There  is  a  good  general  account  of  the  excavations  in 
Hilprecht,  Explorations  in  Bible  Lands  During  the  Nineteenth  Century 
pp.  1-577.  Philadelphia,  1903.  In  this  account  pages  1-288  are  de- 
voted to  the  discoveries  prior  to  1889,  and  pages  289-577  to  the  work 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Some  of  the  early  explorers  left 
unmentioned  or  but  lightly  touched  upon  by  these  writers  are  given  in 
The  Sculptures  and  Inscriptions  of  Darius  the  Great  on  the  Rock  of  Be- 
histun,  published  by  the  Trustees  of  tlie  British  Museum.  London, 
1907.  The  introduction  by  Dr.  L.  W.  King  and  Dr.  E.  A.  Wallis  Budge 
is  especially  valuable  for  its  account  of  Rawlinson's  work,  while  the 
illustrations  are  invaluable.  There  is  a  very  lucid  account  of  the  ex- 
ploration and  decipherment  in  Charles  Fossey,  Manuel  d'Assyriologie, 
tome  i,  pp.  1-244.     Paris,  1904. 


6  RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

very  ancient;  it  stands  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris,  and  is  joined  by  a  bridge  to  Nineveh. 
Although  the  latter  lies  in  ruins,  there  are 
numerous  inhabited  villages  and  small  towns 
on  its  site.  Nineveh  is  on  the  Tigris  distant 
one  parasang  from  the  town  of  Arbil."^  These 
words  introduced  the  long-lost  city  of  Nineveh 
to  the  modern  world,  while  the  modern  world 
was  still  latent  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Benjamin 
had  seen  the  mounds  beyond  the  river  and  knew 
that  beneath  them  lay  all  that  remained  of 
ancient  Nineveh.  Babylon  he  probably  did  not 
see,  for  the  mention  which  he  makes  of  it 
scarcely  seems  to  be  in  the  words  of  an  eye- 
witness. 

From  the  time  of  Benjamin  onward  the  sites 
of  Babylon  and  of  Nineveh  were  visited  again 
and  again  by  passing  travelers,  but  the  day 
of  scientific  exploration  was  long  deferred,  and 
only  came  with  the  nineteenth  century. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  an  Englishman  to  begin 
that  great  work  of  excavation  which  was  to 
restore  the  ancient  civilization  of  Babylonia  and 
Assyria  to  modern  thinking.  Claudius  James 
Rich  was  born  in  Dijon,  France,  in  1787,  of  Eng- 
lish parents  and  spent  his  childhood  in  Bristol, 
England,  and  from  that  fine  old  city  passed 
early  in  life  into  the  service  of  the  East  India 
Company.  After  service  in  Bombay,  Con- 
stantinople, Smyrna,  and  in  Egypt,  he  finally 

•  See  Rogers,  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  i,  pp.  85ff. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  7 

became  resident  of  the  East  India  Company 
at  Baghdad.  There,  though  his  attention  was 
at  first  attracted  by  the  romantic  city  in  which 
he  found  himself,  he  soon  began  to  turn  his 
thoughts  to  the  remains  of  Babylon  lying  on  the 
Euphrates  beyond  the  great  swamps.  On  De- 
cember 10,  1811,  he  saw  for  the  first  time  the 
great  mounds,  and  as  to  many  another  in  similar 
circumstances  his  first  impressions  were  dis- 
appointing. Here  is  what  he  had  to  say  of 
them: 

'Trom  the  accounts  of  modern  travelers  I 
had  expected  to  have  found  on  the  site  of  Baby- 
lon more,  and  less,  than  I  actually  did.  Less, 
because  I  could  have  formed  no  conception  of 
the  prodigious  extent  of  the  whole  ruins,  or 
of  the  size,  solidity,  and  perfect  state  of  some 
of  the  particular  parts  of  them;  and  more,  be- 
cause I  thought  that  I  should  have  distin- 
guished some  traces,  however  imperfect,  of 
many  of  the  principal  structures  of  Babylon. 
I  imagined  I  should  have  said:  Here  were  the 
walls,  and  such  must  have  been  the  extent  of 
the  area.  There  stood  the  palace,  and  this 
most  assuredly  was  the  tower  of  Belus.  I 
was  completely  deceived;  instead  of  a  few  in- 
sulated mounds,  I  found  the  whole  face  of  the 
country  covered  with  the  vestiges  of  building; 
in  some  places  consisting  of  brick  walls  sur- 
prisingly fresh,  in  others  merely  of  a  vast  suc- 
cession of  mounds  of  rubbish  of  such  indeter- 


8  RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

minate  figures,  variety,  and  extent  as  to  in- 
volve the  person  who  should  have  formed  any 
theory  in  inextricable  confusion  and  contra- 
diction."^ 

Rich  remained  only  about  ten  days  amid  the 
mounds,  but  they  were  fruitful  indeed,  for  he 
planned  and  correctly  located  by  astronomical 
observation  all  of  them,  and  did  the  work  so 
successfully  that  it  has  proved  a  good  basis  for 
all  subsequent  work.  But  he  took  another 
step  more  far-reaching  in  its  consequences.  He 
gathered  a  few  natives  and  arming  them  with 
pickaxes  and  shovels  dug  into  one  of  the  big 
mounds  to  see  what  might  lie  beneath  the  sur- 
face. There  his  discoveries  were  indeed  meager, 
but  none  other  before  him  had  thus  essayed  an 
entrance  into  the  very  heart  of  the  ancient 
ruins,  and  his  example  was  to  prove  enticing  to 
others.  From  the  ruins  he  carried  back  to 
Baghdad  specimens  of  inscribed  building  bricks, 
and  likewise  some  smaller  tablets  which  he  had 
purchased  from  the  natives.  These  little  tab- 
lets formed  the  nucleus  of  the  vast  Babylonian 
and  Assyrian  collections  in  the  British  Museum, 
which  have  become  by  far  the  richest  in  the 
world. 

With  this  beginning  at  Babylon,  Rich  was 

1  Fundgraben  des  Orients,  bearbeitet  durch  eine  GeseUschaft  von  Ldeb- 
habern,  p.  129.  Wien,  1813.  The  narrative  of  Rich  comprises  pages  129- 
162  and  also  pages  197-200.  The  former  are  reprinted  by  his  widow, 
Narrative  of  a  Journey  to  the  Site  of  Babylon  in  1821,  now  first  published, 
etc.    London,  1839. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  9 

moved  to  see  the  remains  of  ancient  Nineveh 
also,  and  on  October  31,  1820,  he  entered  Mosul 
and  there  spent  four  months.  He  visited  and 
sketched  and  planned  every  one  of  the  great 
mounds  which  he  considered  to  form  part  of 
the  ancient  city  of  Nineveh.  Here  also,  as  at 
Babylon,  he  secured  from  the  natives  tablets 
written  in  the  cuneiform  character,  which 
neither  he  nor  indeed  anyone  else  could  read, 
but  which  were  later  to  become  intelligible  to 
men.  Rich  had  begun  bravely  the  work  of 
restoring  both  Babylon  and  Nineveh  to  the 
modern  world,  and  in  the  very  next  year  (Oc- 
tober 5,  1821)  he  fell  a  victim  to  cholera  at 
Shiraz  while  bravely  seeking  to  serve  and  en- 
courage others.  The  man  who  had  done  so 
much  for  the  recovery  of  the  records  of  the 
ancient  world  now  died  a  hero  in  the  humblest 
service  for  the  poorest  of  humanity. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  of  recovering 
again  the  civilization  of  Nineveh  was  taken  by 
the  French,  who  in  1842  created  at  Mosul  a 
vice-consulate.  The  man  who  was  sent  to  fill 
the  post  was  Paul  Emil  Botta,  who  though  but 
thirty-seven  years  of  age  had  had  a  wide  ex- 
perience of  the  world,  and  was  familiar  with 
the  methods  of  archspological  research  which 
his  gifted  nation  had  pursued  in  Egypt.  He 
occupied  the  new  post  on  May  25,  1842 — a 
fateful  day  in  the  history  of  Assyriology.  He 
made  no  haste  in  the  pursuit  of  his  carefull}^ 


10        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

formed  plan  to  excavate  in  the  mounds  of  Nin- 
eveh, but  rather  looked  over  the  whole  field  and 
considered  how  he  might  best  begin  and  where. 
When  he  stood  on  the  western  bank  of  the 
Tigris,  at  Mosul,  he  could  see  opposite  the  river 
Choser  discharging  its  waters  into  the  great 
river.  The  eye  could  follow  the  little  river  back 
over  the  plain  which  rose  toward  the  mountains 
of  Kurdistan  upon  the  east  and  northeast. 
Upon  this  plain  there  were  a  few  wretched 
villages,  filled  with  squalid  and  fanatical  in- 
habitants. Besides  these  villages  the  most 
noticeable  objects  were  several  vast  mounds, 
which  had  been  often  described  before,  and 
Botta  knew  what  they  were  supposed  to  be. 
On  his  right  hand,  as  he  looked  across  the  Tigris, 
and  south  of  the  Choser,  lay  a  mound  which  the 
natives  called  Nebi  Yunus  (that  is,  Prophet 
Jonah),  to  whose  honor  and  memory  the  mosque 
on  the  top  of  the  mound  was  dedicated.  On 
the  northern  side  of  the  Choser  lay  another  and 
larger  mound  called  Kuyunjik,  where  there  were 
a  few  human  habitations  similar  to  those  clus- 
tered round  the  mosque  on  Nebi  Yunus.  The 
mound  of  Kuyunjik  was  much  the  larger,  and 
beyond  the  two  mounds  was  a  raised  line  which 
seemed  to  connect  them,  and  might  mark  the 
remains  of  an  inclosing  wall.  Other  mounds 
were  in  sight  or  were  known  from  the  descrip- 
tions of  travelers,  and  Botta  pondered  long  on 
the  best  place  to  begin  excavation. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  11 

He  had  heard  that  at  Babylon  the  natives 
had  dug  up  the  ruins  and  had  used  the  inscribed 
or  stamped  building  bricks  in  the  erection  of 
their  hovels.  He  hoped  that  a  similar  plan  had 
been  pursued  at  Mosul,  and  intended  to  ascer- 
tain from  what  mounds  the  natives  had  secured 
the  stamped  bricks  which  he  hoped  to  find.  A 
thorough  search  of  the  city  revealed  absolutely 
none,  and  the  few  inscribed  tablets  found  in  the 
hands  of  natives  could  not  be  traced  to  their 
place  of  origin,  for  they  naturally  desired  to 
keep  the  secret  for  their  own  purposes.  As  all 
hoped-for  indications  had  failed,  Botta  was  cast 
upon  his  own  unaided  judgment,  and  at  first 
was  inclined  to  dig  in  the  mound  of  Nebi  Yunus. 
From  this  purpose  he  was  finally  dissuaded  by 
the  fact  that  a  village  occupied  a  considerable 
part  of  the  mound,  whose  inhabitants  would 
not  naturally  be  willing  to  have  their  houses 
tumbled  down  by  excavators.  Besides  this, 
there  were  Mohammedan  graves  in  the  mound, 
and  above  all  was  not  the  prophet  Jonah  him- 
self believed  to  be  interred  there?  To  disturb 
a  spot  thus  sacred  might  cause  a  dangerous 
outburst  of  fanaticism,  and  Botta  turned,  some- 
what reluctantly,  to  the  large  mound  of  Ku- 
5ainjik.  At  the  western  edge  and  near  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  mound  he  began  to 
dig  in  December,  1842.  His  resources  were 
meager,  and  the  results  most  disappointing. 
While  he  worked  in  the  trenches  the  inhabi- 


12        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

tants  gathered  round  and  watched  curiously 
the  slow  and  careful  work.  They  could  not 
know  what  it  all  meant,  but  it  was  clear  enough 
to  their  childish  minds  that  this  man  was 
earnestly  seeking  for  the  little  pieces  of  baked 
clay  with  the  strange  marks  upon  them.  One 
of  the  bystanders,  w^hose  home  was  at  Kliorsa- 
bad,  fourteen  miles  away  on  the  river  Choser, 
brought  to  Botta  for  sale  two  large  bricks  with 
inscriptions.  This  gave  him  the  hint  that 
perhaps  Khorsabad  might  be  a  more  fruitful 
field.  At  length,  on  March  20,  1843,  his  faith 
in  Kuyunjik  gave  out  and  he  sent  some  of  his 
men  to  try  the  mound  at  lOiorsabad.  The  re- 
solve was  fortunate,  and  in  three  days  word 
was  brought  to  him  at  Mosul  that  antiquities 
and  inscriptions  had  already  been  found.  He 
was  skeptical,  fearing  lest  the  records  might 
be  some  late  Arabic  graffiti,  and  was  unwilling 
to  go  himself  lest  what  had  been  found  should 
prove  valueless.  He  sent  a  servant  with  in- 
structions to  copy  a  few  of  the  inscriptions  and 
then  report.  Convinced  by  this  report,  he 
went  to  the  scene  and  there  beheld  a  sight 
which  thrilled  him. 

His  workmen  had  lighted  upon  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  wall,  which  they  had  followed 
down  and  around  and  had  so  laid  bare  a  large 
room  in  which  were  lying  fragments  of  marble 
sculptures,  calcined  by  fire,  and  numbers  of 
well-preserved   inscriptions.     He  saw  at  once 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  13 

that  this  was  but  a  part  of  some  great  palace 
and  proved  his  conjecture  by  driving  wells 
about  it,  from  which  similar  objects  were  re- 
trieved. He  could  remain  but  one  day,  but  in 
that  day  his  eyes,  though  he  did  not  then  know 
it,  had  rested  upon  the  remains  of  the  palaces 
erected  by  one  of  the  greatest  kings  who  ever 
ruled  in  Assyria,  Sargon  II  (722-705  B.C.),  who 
had  conquered  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  From 
Mosul  Botta  wrote  on  April  5,  1843,  a  quiet, 
dignified,  unenthusiastic  letter  to  his  friend 
Julius  Mohl,  of  Paris,  and  shortly  afterward  a 
second  letter  which  moved  the  French  govern- 
ment to  place  three  thousand  francs  at  his  dis- 
posal for  further  researches. 

Though  harassed  by  the  natives,  and  an- 
noyed by  the  efforts  of  the  local  Pasha  to  stop 
his  work,  Botta  pushed  doggedly  onward  to  a 
magnificent  success.  The  villagers  were  paid 
to  remove  from  the  top  of  the  mound.  The 
French  government  sent  out  M.  E.  Flandin,  a 
competent  architect,  to  plan  the  rooms  and 
buildings  as  they  were  excavated,  and  while 
Botta  copied  the  inscriptions  he  prepared  the 
diagrams  which  would  show  the  place  of  their 
origin.  Three  hundred  native  laborers  worked 
lustily  to  lay  bare  the  whole  great  complex  of 
palace  buildings.  Scores  of  inscriptions,  chiefly 
upon  stone  and  monumental  in  character,  were 
now  found.  Great  winged  bulls  that  once  had 
guarded  the  palace  doors  were  uncovered,  and 


14        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

beautiful  bas-reliefs  were  stripped  from  the 
walls.  The  results  surpassed  all  the  dreams  of 
Mohl  in  Paris  and  of  Botta  in  Mosul,  and  aston- 
ished the  savants  of  Paris.  Here  was  a  new 
world,  a  new  world  of  antiquity  revealed  to 
modern  eyes.  In  October,  1844,  the  work 
ceased,  and  after  many  delays  the  whole  mass 
of  material  was  successfully  landed  at  Havre  in 
December,  1846,  thence  to  be  transported  to 
Paris  and  deposited  in  the  Louvre.  The  work 
was  crowned  by  the  publication  in  five  mag- 
nificent folio  volumes  of  all  of  the  drawings  of 
Flandin,  the  copies  of  the  inscriptions,  and  the 
descriptions  of  Botta.  So  ended  in  a  worthy 
publicity  the  first  excavations  which  succeeded 
in  bringing  to  Europe  a  real  collection  of  ancient 
Assyrian  monuments. 

Even  before  Botta' s  excavations  had  begun 
a  young  Englishman,  Austen  Henry  Layard, 
traveling  overland  to  seek  a  career  in  Ceylon, 
came  to  see  the  mounds  of  Kuyunjik  and  Nebi 
Yunus.  He  was  deeply  stirred,  and  wrote  in 
his  journal:  "These  huge  mounds  of  Assyria 
made  a  deeper  impression  upon  me,  gave  rise  to 
more  serious  thought  and  more  earnest  reflec- 
tion, than  the  temples  of  Baalbec  or  the  theaters 
of  Ionia."  As  he  went  by  raft  down  the  river 
to  Baghdad  he  passed  the  great  mound  of 
Nimroud,  which  even  more  greatly  impressed 
him,  and  induced  him  to  write:  "My  curiosity 
had  been  greatly  excited,  and  from  that  time  I 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  15 

formed  the  design  of  thoroughly  examining, 
whenever  it  might  be  in  my  power,  these  sin- 
gular ruins."^ 

This  resolution  was  taken  in  April,  1840, 
more  than  two  years  before  Botta  had  seen  the 
mounds.  At  least  in  the  thought  of  excavation 
Layard  had  anticipated  Botta,  though  the 
latter's  good  fortune  finally  gave  him  the 
precedence.  Layard  went  on  his  journey  to- 
ward Ceylon,  but  everywhere  the  sight  of  those 
mounds  overshadowed  him  until,  in  Hamadan 
Persia,  he  could  go  no  further  and  turned  back 
to  seek  some  opportunity  to  excavate.  In  May, 
1842,  he  passed  through  Mosul  on  the  way  to 
Constantinople,  and  there  found  Botta  already 
engaged  in  carrying  on  excavations  at  Ku- 
yunjik.  Layard  then  formed  a  friendship  with 
Botta,  and  when  the  hour  of  discouragement 
arrived  it  was  he  who  urged  him  to  persevere. 

Arrived  at  Constantinople,  Layard  interested 
Sir  Stratford  Canning,  afterward  Lord  Strat- 
ford de  Redcliffe,  who  gave  him  £60,  to  which 
Layard  was  to  add  an  equal  sum  collected 
among  friends.  With  this  small  amount  Layard 
left  Constantinople,  October,  1845,  and  traveled 
with  all  haste  to  Mosul.  He  avoided  the  Pasha 
of  Mosul  by  a  ruse,  and  floated  down  to  the 
river  on  a  raft  to  Nimroud,  and  slept  a  night 

1  Nineveh  and  Its  Remains;  with  an  account  of  a  visit  to  the  Chaldean 
Christians  of  Kurdistan,  and  the  Yezidis,  or  Devil-worshipers;  and  an 
enquiry  into  the  Manners  and  Arts  of  the  Ancient  Assyrians,  by  Austen 
Henry  Layard,  Esq.,  D.C.L.,  i,  p.  8.    2  vols.    London,  1849. 


16        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

among  the  natives.  As  he  afterward  wrote: 
* 'Visions  of  palaces  underground,  of  gigantic 
monsters,  of  sculptured  figures,  and  endless 
inscriptions  floated  before  me.  After  forming 
plan  after  plan  for  removing  the  earth  and  ex- 
tricating these  treasures,  I  fancied  myself 
wandering  in  a  maze  of  chambers  from  which 
I  could  find  no  outlet.  Then,  again,  all  was 
reburied  and  I  was  standing  on  the  grass- 
covered  mound.  Exhausted,  I  was  at  length 
sinking  into  sleep  when,  hearing  the  voice  of 
Awad  [his  Arab  host],  I  rose  from  my  carpet 
and  joined  him  outside  the  hovel.  The  day 
had  already  dawned;  he  had  returned  with  six 
Arabs,  who  agreed  for  a  small  sum  to  work 
under  my  direction."*  There  indeed  is  the  true 
romance  of  exploration,  and  few  sciences  have 
seen  more  of  it  than  this  new  science  of  Assyr- 
iology  which  is  here,  in  this  work  of  Botta  and 
of  Layard,  being  founded. 

The  excavations  thus  begun  were  continued 
until  December,  and  then  resumed  again  in 
February,  1846.  In  that  month  came  a  dis- 
covery less  important  for  science  itself  than 
many  others,  but  of  great  value  in  raising  the 
interest  in  England  in  the  work  of  excavation. 
Layard  had  left  the  mound  to  visit  a  neighbor- 
ing sheikh  and  on  his  return  was  met  by  two 
Arabs  hastening  excitedly  to  meet  him. 
'' 'Hasten,   O  Bey,'  exclaimed  one  of  them — 

•  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  i,  p.  25. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  17 

'hasten  to  the  diggers,  for  they  have  found 
Nimrod  himself.  Wallah,  it  is  wonderful,  but 
it  is  true!  we  have  seen  him  with  our  eyes. 
There  is  no  God  but  God';  and  both  joining  in 
this  pious  exclamation,  they  galloped  off,  with- 
out further  words,  in  the  direction  of  their 
tents."  It  was  a  great  stone  figure  with  the 
head  of  a  man,  the  body  of  a  lion,  and  the  wings 
of  an  eagle,  and  twelve  feet  away  was  found  its 
counterpart.  Layard  was  himself  entranced  by 
the  majestic  figures,  and  amazed  at  the  excel- 
lence of  their  execution.  Hear  his  exclama- 
tions: "I  used  to  contemplate  for  hours  these 
mysterious  emblems,  and  muse  over  their  in- 
tent and  history.  What  more  noble  forms 
could  have  ushered  the  people  into  the  temple 
of  their  gods?  What  more  sublime  images 
could  have  been  borrowed  from  nature  by  men 
who  sought,  unaided  by  the  light  of  revealed 
religion,  to  embody  their  conception  of  the  wis- 
dom, power,  and  ubiquity  of  a  Supreme  Being? 
They  could  find  no  better  type  of  intellect  and 
knowledge  than  the  head  of  a  man ;  of  strength, 
than  the  body  of  a  lion;  of  rapidity  of  motion, 
than  the  wings  of  a  bird.  These  winged  human- 
headed  lions  were  not  idle  creations,  the  off- 
spring of  mere  fancy;  their  meaning  was  written 
upon  them.  They  had  awed  and  instructed  races 
which  flourished  three  thousand  years  ago.'** 
No  explorer  before  had  ever  written  of  dis- 

*  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  i,  65ff. 


18        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

coveries  in  words  of  such  eloquence  and  power; 
none  had  ever  displayed  so  much  of  enthu- 
siasm, nor  possessed  so  moving  a  power  of 
description.  The  effect  upon  England  was 
immediate  and  lasting.  The  British  ambassa- 
dor at  Constantinople  procured  a  vizirial  letter 
authorizing  the  excavations,  and  permitting 
*'the  removal  of  such  objects  as  should  be  dis- 
covered.'' 

After  a  brief  interval  in  the  heated  season 
work  was  resumed  again  in  October,  1846,  with 
the  help  of  a  grant  in  aid  from  the  British  gov- 
ernment. Layard  had  now  the  very  helpful 
assistance  of  Mr.  Hormuzd  Rassam,  who  was 
himself  born  in  the  neighborhood  and  was  able 
to  conduct  all  the  necessary  dealings  with  the 
natives  as  no  European  could  hope  to  be  able 
to  do. 

The  excavations  carried  on  under  these 
fortunate  circumstances  were  successful  be- 
yond all  Layard's  fondest  hopes.  As  the 
trenches  followed  round  the  rooms  of  the  great 
palace  of  Shalmaneser  I  (1300  B.C.)  they  un- 
covered slabs  of  alabaster  richly  carved  in 
relief  with  scenes  of  hunting,  of  war,  and  of 
solemn  religious  ceremony.  'The  very  life 
of  palace,  camp,  and  field  in  Assyrian  days 
came  back  again  before  the  astonished  eyes  of 
the  explorer,  while  these  received  an  addition 
to  their  verisimilitude  by  the  discovery  in 
some  of  the  ruins  of  pieces  of  iron  which  had 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  19 

once  formed  parts  of  the  same  kind  of  armor 
as  that  portrayed  on  the  rehefs,  together  with 
iron  and  bronze  helmets,  while  in  others  were 
found  vases  and  ornamentally  carved  pieces 
of  ivory.  Here  were  the  pictures  and  there 
were  the  objects  which  they  represented.  As 
the  trenches  were  dug  deeper  or  longer,  monu- 
ments carved  or  inscribed  were  found  daily. 
One  trench  ten  feet  beneath  the  surface  un- 
covered the  edge  of  a  piece  of  black  marble. 
It  was  the  corner  of  'an  obelisk  about  seven 
feet  high,  lying  on  its  side.'  It  was  covered  on 
three  sides  with  inscriptions  and  with  twenty 
small  bas-reliefs.  The  inscriptions  recorded  and 
the  bas-reliefs  illustrated  various  forms  of  gift 
and  tribute  which  had  been  received  by  Shal- 
maneser  II  (860-825  B.C.),  though  when  they 
were  found  this  was,  of  course,  not  known.  No 
inscription  equal  in  beauty  and  in  the  promise 
of  valuable  historical  material  had  yet  been 
found  in  Assyria.  .  .  .  Day  after  day  the  work 
went  on  with  the  regular  and  constant  dis- 
covery of  stone  slabs  similar  to  those  which  had 
been  found  before,  and  with  the  finding  of  in- 
scribed bricks,  which,  though  not  so  beautiful 
as  the  stone,  contained  much  more  historical 
material."^ 

Then  Layard  went  away  to  dig  at  Kalah 
Shergat,  the  mound  which  covered  the  first 
capital  of  Assyria,  where  among  other  things  a 

*  Rogers,  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  i,  pp.  155,  156. 


20        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

splendid  inscription  of  Tiglathpileser  I  (1120 
B.C.)  rewarded  his  efforts.  In  June,  1847,  the 
work  ceased  and  it  was  not  resumed  again  until 
the  autumn  of  1849,  when  the  chief  emphasis 
was  laid  upon  the  mounds  of  Kuyunjik  and 
Nebi  Yunus.  In  the  former  he  discovered  the 
palace  of  Sennacherib,  and  his  wonderful  acu- 
men enabled  him  to  recognize  the  fact  that  this 
edifice  belonged  to  a  king  whose  son  was  the 
builder  of  the  palace  at  Nimroud  and  whose 
father  built  the  palace  discovered  by  Botta  at 
Khorsabad.  When  we  remember  that  he  could 
not  read  Assyrian  texts,  nor  could  anyone  else 
at  that  time,  his  keenness  and  power  of  com- 
bination are  alike  remarkable.  In  this  expedi- 
tion he  recovered  portions  of  the  library  of  the 
last  great  king  of  Assyria,  Ashurbanipal  (668- 
625  B.C.),  and  conducted  fruitful  excavations 
at  Kalah  Shergat,  Nimroud,  and  Khorsabad. 
He  returned  to  England  in  April,  1852,  and  de- 
voted his  energies  to  the  publication  of  the 
narrative  and  the  inscription  materials  which 
he  had  recovered.^  It  was  indeed  a  wonderful 
record  of  successful  labor,  and  the  new  science 
of  Assyriology  was  abundantly  provided  with 


1  Discoveries  in  the  Ruins  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  with  travels  in 
Armenia,  Kurdistan,  and  the  Desert:  being  the  result  of  a  second  ex- 
pedition undertaken  for  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum,  by  Austen 
H.  Layard,  M.P.  London,  1853.  A  Second  Series  of  the  Monuments 
of  Nineveh,  including  bas-reliefs  from  the  palace  of  Sennacherib  and 
bronzes  from  the  ruins  of  Nimroud,  from  drawings  made  on  the  spot 
during  the  second  expedition  to  Assyria,  by  Austen  Henry  Layard, 
M.P.     Seventy-one  plates.     London,  1853. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  21 

material  with  which  to  build  a  new  house  of 
learning. 

Layard  was  followed  by  William  Kennett 
Loftus,  who  made  small  but  useful  excavations* 
at  Warka,  the  ancient  city  of  Erech,  home  of 
one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  indeed  the  oldest,  cult 
of  Babylonia.  At  about  the  same  time  J.  E. 
Taylor,  British  vice-consul  at  Bassorah,  exca- 
vated in  the  mound  of  Mugheir,  beneath  which 
lay  the  ancient  city  of  Ur,  home  of  the  worship 
of  the  moon  god. 

While  Loftus  was  still  at  his  work  the  French 
government  sent  out  a  great  expedition  to 
Hillah,  amid  the  remains  of  ancient  Babylon. 
Its  most  famous  member  was  Jules  Oppert, 
whose  name  will  live  while  the  science  of 
Assyriology  finds  votaries,  for  he  became  one 
of  its  founders.  The  expedition  met  with 
the  serious  mishap  of  losing  nearly  all  its  in- 
scription material  by  the  overturning  of  a  raft 
in  the  Tigris,  but  Oppert  brought  to  Europe  so 
many  notes  and  copies  that  the  published  re- 
sults were  notable. 

In  the  same  year  that  the  French  expedition 
was  being  planned  the  British  Museum  secured 
a  grant  from  Parliament  and  Hormuzd  Rassam^ 
was  sent  out  to  begin  excavations  again  where 
Layard  had  left  off.     Rassam's  work  began  in 


'  Travels  and  Researches  in  Chaldcea  and  Susiana,  by  William  Kennett 
Loftus,  F.G.S.    London,  1857. 

2  For  some  further  description  of  Rassam's  work  see  p.  101. 


22        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

1852  and  was  brilliantly  successful.  He  recovered 
the  major  part  of  the  Ubrary  of  Ashurbanipal, 
from  which  later  students  have  extracted  nearly 
all  the  material  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  re- 
ligions both  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria.  In  this 
great  mass  of  inscriptions  when  sent  to  the  British 
Museum  were  found  the  deluge  tablets,  whose 
decipherment  and  pubhcation  by  George  Smith 
filled  all  England  with  a  new  passion  for  further 
discovery. 

In  1873  George  Smith  was  sent  by  private 
British  enterprise  back  to  Kuyunjik,  where  he 
found  more  fragments  of  the  Assyrian  deluge 
story,  together  with  many  important  historical 
texts.  In  1875  he  made  a  less  successful  ex- 
pedition, and  laid  down  his  valuable  life  at 
Aleppo  on  his  way  homeward. 

In  November,  1877,  Rassam  was  back  again 
in  Mosul,  and  thence  went  out  to  the  mound 
of  Balawat,  where  he  had  the  great  good  for- 
tune to  discover  the  beautifully  inscribed  and 
adorned  bronze  plates  which  once  had  covered 
the  palace  gates  of  Shalmaneser  II.  In  that 
same  year  M.  Ernest  de  Sarzec,  French  consul 
at  Bassorah,  began  excavations  at  Telloh,  which 
extended,  with  some  interruptions,  until  1894. 
He  uncovered  a  fine  temple  of  Gudea  (3000 
B.C.)  and  found  in  one  archive  chamber  no  less 
than  thirty  thousand  tablets,  mostly,  indeed, 
of  a  business  character,  relating  to  trade,  com- 
merce,   agriculture,    and    industry,    but    with 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  23 

many  temple  documents  of  the  highest  im- 
portance for  our  study  of  that  ancient  faith. 

At  last  in  1888  America  began  to  join  the 
nations  of  Europe  in  excavation,  and  a  well- 
equipped  expedition  was  sent  out  from  Phila- 
delphia under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  John  P. 
Peters,  to  whose  tremendous  industry  in  stirring 
up  interest  in  Philadelphia  the  expedition  owed 
its  origin.  For  two  seasons  he  directed  its 
labors,  and  was  then  succeeded  by  the  inde- 
fatigable J.  H.  Haynes,  who  was  in  turn  super- 
seded by  Professor  H.  V.  Hilprecht  as  scientific 
director.  The  successive  campaigns  of  excava- 
tion were  carried  on  upon  the  great  mound  of 
Niffer,  the  ancient  Nippur,  from  which  thou- 
sands of  tablets  were  taken  whose  publication 
by  Hilprecht  and  by  his  very  able  and  skillful 
assistant,  Dr.  Albert  T.  Clay,  has  greatly  en- 
riched our  knowledge  of  early  Babylonia. 

In  1899  Germany,  which  had  made  distin- 
guished contributions  to  science  in  the  publica- 
tion and  explication  of  the  Assyrian  treasures 
of  the  British  Museum,  sent  its  first  expedition 
to  Babylon  with  Dr.  Koldewey  as  director.  At 
a  later  date  excavations  were  also  begun  on  the 
mound  of  ancient  Asshur,  and  in  both  places, 
but  perhaps  more  especially  at  the  latter  site, 
inscriptions  of  great  value  have  been  recovered. 
To  these  two  sites  Professor  Friedrich  Delitzsch, 
of  Berlin,  most  distinguished  of  modern  Assyr- 
iologists,  has  made  several  journeys  to  inspect 


24        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

and  interpret  monuments  and  structures  as 
they  were  found. 

And  now  in  this  rapid  survey,  in  which  many 
valuable  excavations  by  E.  A.  Wallis  Budge, 
L.  W.  King,  and  others  had  to  be  passed  with- 
out even  a  mention,  we  have  come  to  our  own 
time.  The  work  of  excavation  in  Asshur,  in 
Babylon,  and  in  other  places  in  Assyria  and 
Babylonia  still  continues,  and  a  steady  stream 
of  tablets  pours  into  the  great  museums  de- 
manding interpretation  and  appraisal.  No  one 
of  the  historical  or  philological  sciences  ever 
made  more  rapid  strides  in  the  accimiulation  of 
material.  Even  the  neighboring  lands  add 
their  contributions.  In  1888  Egypt  delivered 
up  out  of  the  little  village  of  Tell-el-Amarna 
more  than  three  hundred  tablets  written  in 
ancient  Babylonian  and  forming  a  part  of  the 
correspondence  between  Egyptian  kings  and 
Asiatic  kings  and  princes  in  the  fifteenth  pre- 
Christian  century;  while  but  a  few  years  later 
the  mounds  of  Susa  under  the  close  examina- 
tion of  M.  Jacques  de  Morgan,  of  Paris,  yielded 
the  priceless  legal  code  of  Hammurabi,  greatest 
of  the  early  kings  of  Babylonia. 

The  story  of  exploration  and  excavation  has 
been  told,  and  we  must  now  turn  to  see  how 
men  had  learned  to  read  the  strange  languages 
in  which  this  treasure  trove  of  inscriptions  was 
written.  The  story  goes  back  to  very  humble 
and  simple  beginnings,  and  many  men  of  divers 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  25 

races  worked  upon  the  difficult  problem,  each 
contributing  his  share,  often  without  knowing 
how  it  might  fit  into  that  which  was  going  on 
elsewhere. 

II.  In  the  years  1614-1626  Pietro  della  Valle 
traversed  a  large  part  of  Turkey,  Persia,  and 
India.  In  passing  through  Persia  he  visited 
the  ruins  of  Persepolis  and  there  copied  at 
random  into  one  of  his  letters  a  few  signs  which 
neither  he  nor  any  other  could  then  read. 

<T  m  Tf  \  «TT 

Other  travelers  followed  him  and  saw  the 
same  inscription,  but  none  made  any  contri- 
bution toward  its  elucidation  until  1674, 
when  Sir  John  Chardin  copied  very  carefully 
one  small  inscription  which,  when  it  was  pub- 
hshed,  enabled  European  scholars  to  see  that 
the  characters  of  this  strange  writing  were  made 
up  of  little  arrowheads  or  wedges  deftly  com- 
bined, and  many  reached  the  conclusion  that 
the  language  was  to  be  read  from  left  to  right, 
but  none  dared  to  essay  the  tremendous  task 
of  its  decipherment. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1765,  the  ruins  of 
Persepolis  were  visited  by  Carsten  Niebuhr, 
father  of  the  man  who  afterward  became  the 
historian  of  Rome.  Three  weeks  and  a  half  he 
remained  among  them  and  laboriously  copied 


26        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

a  number  of  the  inscriptions,  and  copied  them 
with  remarkable  accuracy.  When  he  found 
leisure  after  his  return  home  to  examine  and 
compare  what  he  had  laboriously  copied  be- 
neath the  cruel  sun  of  Persia,  he  soon  convinced 
himself  that  there  was  not  one  but  three  sep- 
arate languages  represented.  In  one  of  them 
the  little  wedges  were  less  complex  than  in  the 
second,  while  in  the  third  they  had  very  greatly 
increased  in  complexity  of  form.  He  divided 
the  little  inscriptions  into  three  classes,  and  by 
a  process  of  comparison  among  those  which  be- 
longed to  class  I,  soon  arrived  i^t  the  perfectly 
sound  conclusion  that  in  all  these  texts  of  that 
class  there  were  employed  but  forty-two  signs. 
These  he  copied  out  and  set  in  order  in  one  of 
his  plates,  and  what  he  had  thus  achieved  no 
later  study  would  be  able  to  overthrow. 

When  his  copies  were  published  two  scholars 
set  seriously  to  work  to  decipher.  The  first 
was  Olav  Gerhard  Tychsen,  professor  of  Oriental 
languages  in  the  University  of  Rostock,  Ger- 
many; the  other  was  Friedrich  Miinter,  the 
Danish  academician  of  Copenhagen.  Tychsen 
made  almost  at  once  the  important  discovery 
that  there  occurred  at  irregular  intervals  in  all 
the  texts  of  class  I  a  wedge  that  did  not  point 
to  the  right  or  downward,  but  inclined  diag- 
onally— a  slanting  wedge — which  he  suggested 
was  used  to  divide  between  words.  This  was 
to  prove  most  useful  in  the  hands  of  Miinter, 


rYr;:TfTY^Tmr<imr<r<rHfr<ArFmEYr<*TK-<<fT<K«^y<^ 


fTy\ 


Reduced  from  the   Plate  in  Chardin's  Voyages. 
Vol.  Ill,  Page  118 


1 

111" 

|1 


The  inscription  at  the  top  of  the  page  is  Persian,  the  ( 
1b  Sueian,  the  one  on  the  right  is  Babyloniaa. 


Tbk  First  Pebsepolis  Inm^  ">•"  Copied  Eotim. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  27 

but  Tychsen  himself  made  only  abortive  at- 
tempts to  decipher  one  of  the  texts.  Miinter 
identified  the  builders  of  Persepolis  with  the 
Achsemenides,  and  so  provided  a  most  valuable 
clue  to  the  decipherment  and  even  got  so  far  as 
to  identify  the  characters  for  ''a"  and  ''b" — 
the  first  firm  step  forward  in  the  decipherment, 
but  the  consummation  must  await  the  coming 
of  a  genius. 

In  1802  Fiorillo,  librarian  of  the  University 
of  Gottingen,  drew  the  attention  of  Georg 
Friedrich  Grotefend,  then  a  gymnasial  teacher 
in  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  to  the  lithographic 
facsimiles  which  Niebuhr  had  published.  Grote- 
fend's  interest  was  excited,  and  at  once  he  began 
the  slow  process  of  comparison  and  combina- 
tion. His  processes  were  perfectly  simple  and 
may  be  made  clear  to  any  intelligent  mind, 
even  though  it  possess  no  Oriental  knowl- 
edge. 

He  began  with  the  assumption  that  there 
were  three  languages,  and  that  of  these  the 
simplest  was  ancient  Persian,  the  language  of 
the  Achsemenides,  who  had  erected  these  palaces 
and  temples  and  caused  the  inscriptions  to  be 
cut.  For  the  purposes  of  decipherment  he 
chose  out  two  of  these  old  Persian  inscriptions 
and  laid  them  side  by  side.  The  ones  which 
were  chosen  were  neither  very  long  nor  very 
short;  they  were  beautifully  copied  by  Nie- 
buhr, and  the  frequent  recurrence  of  the  same 


28        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

signs  in  them  seemed  to  indicate  that  their 
contents  were  similar.  The  inscriptions  thus 
selected  were  those  numbered  '^B"  and  "G"  by 
Niebuhr  (see  plate),  which,  for  the  purpose  of 
this  exposition,  may  be  designated  simply  as 
first  and  second  (I  and  II).  Following  Tychsen 
and  Miinter,  he  held  that  these  inscriptions, 
which  accompanied  figures  of  kings,  were  the 
titles  of  these  monarchs,  and  were  presumably 
similar  to  the  inscriptions  of  Sassanian  kings 
deciphered  by  De  Sacy,  all  of  which  had  a 
stereotyped  form  about  in  this  style: 

"N.,  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the 
king  of  Iran  and  Aniran,  son  of  N.,  the  great 
king,"  etc. 

Grotefend  placed  the  two  little  Persian  texts 
side  by  side  and  closely  compared  them.  In 
the  work  of  Miinter  a  word  had  been  pointed 
out  which  appeared  frequently  in  these  inscrip- 
tions, sometimes  in  a  short  form  and  sometimes 
longer,  as  though  in  the  latter  case  some  gram- 
matical termination  had  been  added  to  it.  In 
these  two  inscriptions  this  word  appeared  both 
in  the  shorter  and  in  the  longer  form.  Grotefend 
was  persuaded  that  this  word  meant  ''king,'*  as 
Miinter  had  indeed  suggested,  and  that  when  it 
appeared  twice  in  each  of  these  texts  in  exactly 
the  same  place,  first  in  the  shorter  and  then  in 
the  longer  form,  the  expression  meant  ''king  of 
kings."  A  glance  at  the  plate  will  show  that 
in  these  two  inscriptions,  in  the  second  line, 


fr  m.  ^y.  Kr.  >Y^.<yr.^.  <  .«n.<( .  m  .K- .  KY .  YK^ 


V 


>y^  M  !,y  T>-  ^  .«ff.^.nY.K-.KT .  ff.K^ .  ^  .«n  <<   ffy 


K-.KT.?f.K-.nT.K  .  TTY .  "M.  v.«TR<.m.  Y<>  KT  ff  t<> 


rTX<K-.<rT.5^<.m  .^H A.7r.Yr.?c.^M.rTy.Yr^.S.<^<  K> 


mA.nXn.  n.  V.  <-<.«YT.TTT.nrT.<n  .«.  vf   T<-.  v  .  <t< 


Y<-,  \  n .  -ttT.  >TtT.  ^.  ^M.  Th  ^T.Hfrr  .yjTy  <t  <^^  r< .  <rT .  ^< 


•NiEBCHR  Tab.  34.    B. 


I 


«yT.«.T<^Yn.?:y .<<  .^  A. «YT .«.m.Y<>,T<rYT. K- \  -y^.T-r. H 


Km.-!TY>.YT.fn.^.Y<ry-  M/^.^\  ^n.^.y'Yr .  k-.  y<y  . 


TY^T<^<?^<.Y^'T?Y  A.fY  Xn.nA.<^<-^^.^^^^^  y<-  . 


•NiEBrHH  Tab.  xxIt.    q. 
INSCRIPTIONS     DECIPHEREO    BY    GROTEFEND 

"  From  Niebuhr.     RnMbachreibung  tiack  Arabim  und  andrm  uriitiesevJ,  (   '      '".     KopenhBgen,  1774-1834,  Band  11,  p.  1S4.     Tab.  XXIV. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  29 

after  the  first  word  divider,  appear  the  two 
sets  of  signs  exactly  ahke,  thus: 

w«iy.^.fTr.K-.y<T.fT.r<>, 

This  is  followed  by  the  same  word,  but  much 
increased  in  length,  thus: 

(^)<<(TX<.Tn.  T<b.KT.  YY".  Y<-. in 
KmrYrY. 

The  supposition  was  that  (a)  meant  king,  while 
(b)  was  the  plural  and  meant  kingSj  the  whole 
expression  signifying  king  of  kings.  But  further 
this  same  word,  supposed  to  signify  ''king," 
occurred  again  in  both  inscriptions,  namely, 
in  the  first  line,  and  in  both  instances  it  was 
followed  by  the  same  word,  namely: 

(0)  '^T^  Y-T  &T  Y- 

Here,  then,  was  another  expression  containing 
the  word  ''king."  What  could  it  mean?  Ob- 
viously it  meant  "great,"  which  occurs  in  just 
that  way  in  the  Sassanian  texts,  mentioned 
above.  All  this  looked  plausible  enough,  but  it 
was,  after  all,  only  conjecture.  It  must  be  sup- 
ported by  definite  facts,  and  these  words  must 
each  be  separated  into  its  alphabetic  con- 
stituents and  these  understood,  and  supported 
by  clear  evidence,  before  anyone  would  or 
could  beheve  in  the  decipherment. 


30        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

To  this  Grotefend  bent  every  energy.  His 
method  was  as  simple  as  before.  He  made  out 
to  his  own  satisfaction  the  titles  ''great  king, 
king  of  kings."  Now,  in  the  Sassanian  in- 
scriptions the  first  word  was  always  the  king's 
name,  followed  immediately  by  "great  king, 
king  of  kings";  it  was  probably  true  in  this 
case.  But,  if  true,  then  these  two  inscriptions 
were  set  up  by  different  kings,  for  the  name 
of  the  first  was, 

while  the  other  was. 

But  to  simplify,  or  perhaps  I  should  say  to 
complicate,  the  matter,  the  name  with  which 
No.  I  begins  appears  again  in  No.  II  in  the  third 
fine,  but  changed  somewhat  in  its  ending,  so 
that  it  stands  thus: 

c^)fT.m.sf.Kr^^  .<^<.<Yr.'^. 

From  its  situation  in  the  two  places  Grotefend 
concluded  that  (d)  was  the  name  in  the  nomi- 
native and  that  (f)  was  the  same  name  in  the 
genitive.  Thus  No.  I  begins,  "N  great  king, 
king  of  kings /^  and  this  same  king  appears  in 
No.  II  thus:  "of  N."  In  II  this  name  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  word  for  ''king/'  and  after  this 
by   another  word   which   might   mean   "son," 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  31 

SO  that  the  whole  phrase  in  II  would  be  "of  N 
king  son,^'  that  is,  "son  of  N  king/'  the  order 
of  words  being  presumably  different  from  that 
to  which  we  are  accustomed.  But  this  same 
word,  which  is  supposed  to  mean  ''son,"  appears 
also  in  No.  I,  line  five,  thus: 

where  it  follows  a  name  which  does  not  possess 
the  title  king.  From  all  these  facts  Grotefend 
surmised  that  in  these  two  inscriptions  he  had 
the  names  of  three  rulers:  (1)  the  grandfather, 
who  had  founded  a  dynasty  but  did  not  possess 
the  title  of  king;  (2)  the  son,  who  succeeded 
him  and  bore  the  title  of  king;  and  (3)  the 
grandson,  who  also  had  the  same  title.  The 
next  thing  was  to  search  through  all  the  known 
names  of  the  Achsemenides  to  find  three  names 
which  would  suit.  The  first  names  thought  of 
were  Cambyses,  Cyrus,  and  Cambyses.  These 
will,  however,  not  serve,  because  the  name  of 
the  grandfather  and  grandson  are  exactly  alike, 
whereas  on  the  two  inscriptions  even  a  glance 
will  show  that  they  are  different.  The  next 
three  to  be  considered  are  Hystaspes,  Darius, 
Xerxes.  If  these  be  correct,  then  the  seven 
signs  with  which  No.  I  begins  must  be  the 
name  Darius  (see  "d"  above).  The  next  thing 
in  order  was  to  find  and  apply  some  test  to  this 
conjecture.  After  much  thought  and  comparison 


32        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

with  Hebrew,  and  with  Greek  transhterations 
of  the  name,  Grotefend  finally  gave  the  word 
the  form  ^^Darheush,"  as  follows: 

<<^ff.  m.  ^T.  K^  ^t^Xff.C 

D  A  R  H  E  U  SH 

That  seemed  to  fit  well  enough,  and  later  study 
has  shown  that  it  contains  errors  only  in  H 
and  E,  which  were  not  sufficient  to  vitiate  the 
process,  nor  interfere  with  carrying  it  further. 
The  next  task  was  to  make  out  the  name  at  the 
beginning  of  No.  II.  This  was  comparatively 
easy,  for  nearly  all  these  same  letters  were  again 
used,  only  the  first,  which  was  wanting,  being 
readily  supplied  from  the  Hebrew  and  Avestan 
forms  of  the  name,  and  the  word  was  then  read 
thus: 

CH      SH     H       A       R       SH         A 

The  error  in  this  also  was  extremely  slight. 

He  had  now  to  find  the  letters  for  the  third 
name,  and  that  was  a  much  more  difficult 
problem.  This  was  the  name  which  appears 
in  I,  line  four,  last  word,  thus: 


.  YYT. 

Here  were  ten  signs.     Grotefend  believed  that 
this  word  was  in  the  genitive  case,  and  some 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  33 

signs  must  be  cut  off  as  the  genitive  ending, 
but  it  was  difficult  to  decide  how  many  were 
thus  to  be  rejected.  He  finally  decided  to  cut 
off  the  final  three  letters  and  so  to  take  what 
remained  as  the  king's  name.  As  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  the  name  which  he  was  seeking 
was  Hystaspes,  the  late  Persian  form  of  which 
Grotefend  followed  and  so  made  out  the  name: 

G         O         SH         T  ASP 

In  this  word  the  error  was  confined  to  the  first 
two  letters. 

To  Grotefend  the  whole  process  seemed  to 
confirm  itself  as  it  developed  step  by  step.  He 
was  convinced  that  he  had  correctly  secured 
thirteen  letters  of  the  Persian  alphabet  out  of 
a  possible  forty-two.  He  soon  added  others 
by  the  use  of  the  divine  name  Aurmazda  as  he 
believed  that  it  occurred  in  these  texts. 

He  now  felt  able  to  translate  these  two  little 
inscriptions  in  a  partial  and  tentative  way  as 
follows : 

I.  Darius,  the  mighty  king,  king  of  kings,  ...  son  of 

Hystaspes. 
II.  Xerxes,  the  mighty  king,  king  of  kings,  ...  son  of 
Darius,  the  king. 

The  Gottingen  Academy  refused  to  publish  his 
work,  and  when  finally  it  was  brought  out  by 
a  friend  its  reception  was- chilling.     But  how- 


34        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

ever  the  men  of  his  own  day  might  dispute  his 
results  and  criticise  his  processes,  the  future 
belonged  to  the  humble  classical  scholar  of 
Hannover,  and  men  would  soon  come  to  see 
that  he  had  provided  a  key  which  in  due  time 
would  unlock  to  the  world  the  vast  treasures 
of  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  literature.  The 
later  work  of  Grotefend  was  very  largely  abor- 
tive, and  the  continuation  of  his  successful 
work  passed  into  other  hands. 

The  men  who  continued  the  tradition  were 
Eugene  Burnouf,  a  distinguished  French  sa- 
vant, and  Christian  Lassen,  a  Norwegian  who 
spent  most  of  his  life  at  Bonn,  Germany,  where 
he  became  one  of  the  founders  of  Sanskrit 
philology.  These  two  men,  who  were  close 
personal  friends,  published  contemporaneously 
essays  upon  this  great  problem  of  decipherment, 
which  quite  naturally  has  led  to  a  foolish  dis- 
pute as  to  their  priority.  The  former  added 
much  to  Grotefend's  work  in  deciphering  the 
geographical  names  Persia,  Media,  Babylon, 
Arabia,  Cappadocia,  Sarangia,  Bactria,  and 
Sogdiana,  while  Lassen  correctly  deciphered 
six  additional  characters  and  was  almost  suc- 
cessful in  securing  the  values  of  two  more. 

While  all  this  work  was  going  on  an  English- 
man, Major  (afterward  Sir)  Henry  C.  Rawlin- 
son,  was  engaged  upon  the  same  task.  In  1835 
he  copied  with  great  care,  and  at  the  peril  of 
his  life,  about  two  hundred  lines  from  the  great 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  35 

inscription  of  Darius  at  Behistim  in  Persia. 
Like  Grotefend,  he  also  began  with  the  names 
Hystaspes,  Darius,  and  Xerxes.  These  he  says 
he  apphed  ^'at  hazard  to  the  three  groups/' 
This  he  had  undoubtedly  arrived  at  quite  in- 
dependently of  Grotefend,  but  his  later  progress 
was  helped  by  the  material  secured  by  Grote- 
fend and  forwarded  to  Rawhnson  by  Edwin 
Norris,  the  secretary  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society.  With  this  assistance,  but  most  of  all 
aided  by  his  own  acumen,  he  succeeded  during 
the  year  1837  in  arriving  at  a  tentative  transla- 
tion of  the  first  two  paragraphs  of  the  Behistun 
inscription;  this  he  forwarded  to  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  where  it  was  received  on  March 
14,  1838.  In  1839  he  wrote  his  preliminary 
memoir  and  expected  to  publish  it  in  the 
spring  of  1840.  At  this  juncture,  when  he  was 
upon  the  very  point  of  far  surpassing  all  his 
predecessors  in  the  power  actually  to  translate, 
he  had  to  spend  troublous  years  in  the  Afghan 
war,  and  not  until  December,  1843,  could  he 
resume  his  far  more  important  studies  in 
Baghdad.  At  last,  after  many  delays  and  dis- 
couragements, he  published,  in  1846,  his  me- 
moir, or  series  of  memoirs,  on  the  ancient  Per- 
sian inscriptions,  in  which  he  gave,  for  the  first 
time,  a  nearly  complete  translation  of  the  whole 
Persian  text  of  Behistun.  In  this  Rawlinson 
attained  imperishable  fame.  With  his  work 
the  long  process  of  the  decipherment  of  ancient 


36        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Persian  came  to  an  end.  Later  scholars  needed 
only  to  build  upon  his  foundations/ 

Very  little  had  thus  far  been  done  upon  the 
other  two  languages  which  appeared  both  at 
Persepolis  and  at  Behistun  by  the  side  of  the 
ancient  Persian  text.  The  man  who  had  the 
privilege  of  beginning  the  decipherment  of  the 
second  language  of  these  groups  of  inscriptions 
was  Niels  Louis  Westergaard,  who  proceeded 
by  the  same  method  as  that  which  gave  success 
with  the  first  group  to  Grotefend.  The  language 
he  called  Median.  After  Westergaard,  Edward 
Hincks  and  the  eminent  French  scholar,  De 
Saulcy,  made  contributions  to  the  rapid  progress 
of  this  much  easier  problem.  Professor  A.  H. 
Sayce,  of  Oxford,  and  Jules  Oppert,  of  Paris, 
each  contributed  to  the  process,  which  may  be 
considered  to  be  closed  with  the  publication  of 
an  elaborate  edition  of  these  texts  by  Dr.  F.  H. 
Weissbach  in  1890.  The  language  was,  at  that 
time  and  by  the  general  agreement  of  scholars, 
called  Susian.  For  our  purposes  it  is  of  minor 
importance,  and  I  have  therefore  passed  very 
lightly  over  the  story  of  its  decipherment. 

A  far  more  important  as  well  as  a  supremely 
difficult  task  awaited  the  decipherer's  skill  in 
the   third   set   of   inscriptions   found   both   at 

1  For  a  full  account  of  Rawlinson's  work  see  Rogers,  History  of  Baby- 
lonia and  Assyria,  i,  pp.  63ff.,  and  compare  The  Sculptures  and  In- 
scriptions of  Darius  the  Great  on  the  Rock  of  Behistun  in  Persia.  [By 
E.  A.  W.  Budge,  L.  W.  King,  and  R.  C.  Thompson.]  Published  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  British  Museum.     London,  1907. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  37 

Persepolis  and  at  Behistun.  As  I  said  in  the 
very  ]:)eginning  of  this  narrative,  the  signs  with 
which  the  three  sorts  of  inscriptions  were  written 
increased  in  complexity  from  the  first  to  the 
third.  The  decipherment  had  proven  that  the 
ancient  Persian  was  written  with  an  alphabetic 
character,  while  Susian  was  syllabic  and  ideo- 
graphic in  its  script.  The  third  language,  the 
Assy ro-Baby Ionian,  was  now  in  turn  to  be 
attacked.  The  problem  was  indeed  exceedingly 
difficult,  but  the  workers  had  increased  and  the 
hopes  were  bright. 

The  most  gifted  of  all  the  new  workers  was 
the  rector  of  the  little  parish  of  Kiliyleagh  in 
Ireland,  the  Rev.  Edward  Hincks,  who  had 
already  made  important  contributions  to  the 
decipherment  both  of  Persian  and  of  Susian. 
Both  these  services  he  was  now  to  surpass,  and 
apparently  with  ease. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1846  and  early  in  1847 
Hincks  read  three  papers  before  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy  and  plunged  boldly  into  the  reading  of 
Babylonian.  He  saw  that  it  was  related  to 
the  Semitic  languages,  Hebrew  and  Arabic,  and 
perceived  that  it  was  the  same  language  as  that 
in  which  were  written  the  small  tablets  which 
were  now  coming  in  numbers  out  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia.  If,  therefore,  he  could  decipher  the 
third  language  of  Persepolis  and  Behistun  he 
would  make  it  possible  to  read  the  entire 
literature  of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians. 


38        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Hincks  determined  the  meanings  of  a  num- 
ber of  syllabic  signs,  and  identified  a  large  part 
of  the  numerals.  He  was  on  the  high  road  to  a 
reading  of  the  texts,  but  he  was  too  careful  to 
venture  to  translate.  His  method,  despite  his 
natural  enthusiasm,  was  rigidly  scientific. 

Botta  was  now  back  again  in  Paris,  and  was 
publishing  in  parts  a  memoir  upon  the  language 
of  the  inscriptions  which  he  had  recovered.  He 
made  but  little  effort  to  decipher  or  translate, 
but  collated  all  the  inscriptions  which  he  had 
found  and  made  systematic  lists  of  the  signs 
which  he  found  upon  them.  In  this  manner  he 
differentiated  no  less  than  642  separate  signs, 
and  so  at  one  stroke  showed  how  impossible 
were  the  old  alphabetic  theories  of  this  manner 
of  writing. 

In  1849  Hincks  read  a  remarkable  paper  on 
the  Khorsabad  inscriptions.  He  had  hitherto 
worked  only  with  the  little  Persepolitan  texts; 
he  had  now  greatly  broadened  his  field  by  tak- 
ing in  the  material  which  Botta  had  secured. 
Hincks  was  now  able  to  demonstrate  the  syl- 
labic character  of  many  of  the  signs.  There 
was,  for  example,  a  sign  for  RA,  and  another 
for  RI,  and  yet  another  for  RU;  then  there 
was  a  sign  for  AR  and  presumably  also  for  IR 
and  UR,  though  he  could  not  perfectly  define 
the  last  two.  At  the  end  of  this  paper,  which 
was  not  finished  until  1850,  Hincks  added  a 
few  lines  of  translation  from  Assyrian.     "This 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  39 

was  indeed  a  translation  in  a  sense  attained  by 
no  other  interpreter.  It  gave  first  the  Assyrian 
characters,  then  an  attempted  transcription  into 
Roman  characters,  and  finally  the  almost  com- 
plete and  very  nearly  correct  translation.  It 
is  impossible  to  read  this  paper  at  this  late  date 
without  astonishment  at  its  grasp  of  funda- 
mental principles,  its  keen  insight  into  linguistic 
form  and  life,  and  its  amazing  display  of  powers 
of  combination."* 

In  1851  Rawlinson  issued  his  long  and  eagerly 
expected  memoir,  in  which  he  published  one 
hundred  and  twelve  lines  of  inscription  in  cunei- 
form type  accompanied  by  an  interlinear  tran- 
scription into  Roman  characters  and  a  transla- 
tion into  Latin.  To  this  was  added  a  body  of 
notes,  with  brief  lists  of  signs  and  acute  obser- 
vations on  many  peculiarities  of  the  language. 

The  whole  process  of  decipherment  up  to  this 
time  had  been  so  much  like  a  dream  that  many 
persons  doubted  whether  it  had  any  really  sub- 
stantial basis.  As  an  enlightened  public  opinion 
is  a  valuable  asset  in  all  scientific  progress,  Mr. 
Fox  Talbot,  of  London,  determined  to  set  these 
doubts  at  rest  by  a  test,  dramatic  in  its  char- 
acter, which  should  show  how  complete  was 
the  agreement  existing  between  the  different 
scholars  who  were  at  work  upon  the  problem. 
He  translated  a  part  of  a  new  published  text 
of  Tiglathpileser,  and  sent  it  under  seal  to  the 

1  Rogers,  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  i,  pp.  187,  188, 


40        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Royal  Asiatic  Society,  to  which  he  desired  that 
RawUnson,  Hincks,  and  Oppert  should  also 
submit  independent  translations.  When  the 
three  sealed  translations  were  opened  before  the 
selected  committee  their  substantial  agreement 
left  no  doubt  that  the  decipherers  had  really 
attained  certainty  as  to  the  main  body  of  their 
results. 

With  this  we  may  regard  the  process  of  de- 
cipherment of  the  three  groups  of  inscriptions 
as  concluded.  It  was  now  possible  to  read  Per- 
sian, Susian,  and  Babylonian.  It  was  time  to 
begin  the  process  of  analysis  of  the  texts.  The 
grammar  must  be  built  up  stage  by  stage.  The 
texts  must  be  ransacked  for  historical  material. 
The  whole  life  of  the  great  peoples  who  had 
caused  these  records  to  be  made  must  be  stud- 
ied. That  task  was  to  prove  much  larger  than 
the  pioneers  in  decipherment  could  have 
dreamed.  From  all  the  camps  of  excavators 
new  materials  were  pouring  into  museums, 
both  old  and  new.  New  students  were  spring- 
ing up  in  unexpected  places,  yet  the  work  grew 
apace  and  far  outstripped  their  utmost  efforts. 
Assyriology  demonstrated  its  right  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  university  discipline,  and  a  new 
science  took  its  place  by  the  side  of  its  more 
ancient  compeers. 

When  once  the  process  of  decipherment  had 
reached  assured  results  and  the  grammatical 
control  of  the  new  texts  was  sufficiently  as- 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  41 

sured  to  make  translation  reasonably  certain, 
the  process  of  using  the  new  material  for  his- 
torical purposes  began.  It  was  quite  natural 
that  history  should  come  first.  The  names  of 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  kings  had  long  been 
popularly  known  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
the  discovery  of  contemporaneous  documents 
containing  accounts  of  their  campaigns  as  told 
by  their  own  historiographers  appealed  to  the 
imagination,  and  stimulated  interest  in  the  new 
science.  Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  science 
English  and  French  literary  journals  began  to 
print  frequent  notices  of  the  discovery  of  the 
names  of  Shalmaneser  and  Nebuchadrezzar  and 
others  upon  newly  deciphered  tablets.  Very 
early  also  came  the  announcement  of  the  find- 
ing of  the  names  of  biblical  kings;  indeed,  it 
was  this  sort  of  a  discovery  which  was  George 
Smith's  first  introduction  to  Assyrian  research.* 
This  linking  up  of  the  documents  of  the  Hebrews 
and  of  the  Babylonians  continues  with  un- 
abated interest  and  vigor  to  the  present,  and 
has  been  of  enormous  value  in  the  quickening 

1  Smith's  report  of  his  first  discovery  is  so  interesting  in  the  history 
of  Assyrian  discovery  that  it  is  here  reproduced  entire: 

"Assyrian  Inscription.  While  examining  part  of  the  Assyrian  col- 
lection in  the  British  Museum  I  lately  discovered  a  short  inscription 
of  Shalmaneser  II,  king  of  Assyria,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  Jehu, 
king  of  Israel,  sent  him  tribute  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  reign. 
That  he  received  tribute  from  Jehu  is  well  known  from  the  black  obelisk 
inscription,  but  the  date  of  the  event  has  not  been  previously  ascer- 
tained. This  fact  is  of  chronological  interest.  I  may  add  that  Jehu 
in  this  inscription  is  styled  'Son  of  Omri,'  the  same  as  on  the  black 
obelisk.  George  Smith." — Athenceum,  No.  2031,  September  29,  1S66, 
p.  410. 


42        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

of  general  interest  in  the  study.  Without  this 
stimulus  the  means  would  hardly  have  been 
forthcoming  for  some  of  the  most  successful 
expeditions. 

But  if  the  historical  material  received  atten- 
tion first,  very  early  indeed  did  men  begin  to 
see  that  these  new  discoveries  were  introducing 
us  to  the  religion  of  the  Assyrians  and  Baby- 
lonians. In  the  beginning  the  great  slabs, 
sculptured  in  relief,  were  found  to  contain 
figures  of  the  gods,  and  demons,  which  were 
reproduced  without,  of  course,  any  attempt  at 
classifying  or  arranging  them.  They  were  often 
labeled  merely  "Winged  Divinity"  or  with 
some  other  noncommital  legend,  but  even  so 
early  as  1857  considerable  numbers  of  these 
were  presented  to  the  popular  eye  in  illustra- 
tions.* Here  was  the  raw  material  which  must 
soon  be  interpreted  and  organized. 

The  earliest  students  of  the  religious  ma- 
terial, in  a  more  systematic  way,  were  Francois 
Lenormant  in  France  and  Archibald  H.  Sayce 
in  England.  Lenormant  was  born  in  Paris, 
January  17,  1837,  and  devoted  his  early  years 
to  Greek  archaeology,  but  later  passing  over  to 
Assyriology  gave  all  the  powers  of  a  remark- 
able mind,  with  extraordinary  intuitive  power, 
to  the  new  science.  In  the  power  to  seize  the 
essential  thing  in  a  difficult,  almost  illegible 
text,   and  discarding  the  merely  adventitious 

>  See  Bonomi,  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces,  3d  edition.    London,  1857. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  43 

arrive  at  a  picture  of  some  religious  or  magical 
or  liturgical  idea,  no  later  investigator  has  sur- 
passed him/  His  death  at  the  early  age  of 
forty-six  was  a  sad  loss. 

The  first  attempt  to  present  a  connected  ac- 
count of  all  the  known  facts  of  the  Babylonian 
and  Assyrian  religion  was  made  by  Sayce  in  his 
Hibbert  Lectures,  published  in  1887.  How  diffi- 
cult, nay,  impossible,  the  task  was  he  has  him- 
self stated  in  a  later  course  of  lectures  devoted 
to  the  same  subject,  in  words  which  I  may  well 
reproduce  here:  "It  is  now  fourteen  years  ago 
since  I  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  for  the 
Hibbert  Trustees  on  the  religion  of  the  ancient 
Babylonians.  The  subject  at  that  time  was 
almost  untouched;  even  such  materials  as  were 
then  accessible  had  been  hardly  noticed,  and 
no  attempt  had  been  made  to  analyze  or  reduce 
them  to  order,  much  less  to  draw  up  a  systematic 
account  of  ancient  Babylonian  religion.  It  was 
necessary  to  lay  the  very  foundations  of  the 
study  before  it  could  be  undertaken,  to  fix  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  Babylonian  faith 


1  The  following   works  of  Lenormant   may   here  be    mentioned    as 
especially  significant  in  the  early  study  of  the  reUgious  texts: 

1.  Lettres    Assyriologiques  et  Epigraphiques  sur  Vhistorie  et  les  antiquitis 

de  I'Asie  ant&rieure.     2  vols.     Paris,  1871-1873. 

2.  Essai  de  commentaire  des  fragments  cosmogoniques  de  Berose.     Paris, 

1871. 

3.  Le  dSluge  et  I'ipopie  babylonienne.     Paris,  1873. 

4.  Les  sciences  occultes  en  A sie.    2  vols.    Paris,  1874,  1875.     I.  La  Magi e 

chez  les  Chald^ens  et  les  origines  Accadiennes.     II.  La  divination 
et  la  science  des  Presages  chez  les  Chald^ens. 


44        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

and  the  lines  along  which  it  had  developed, 
and,  above  all,  to  distinguish  the  different  ele- 
ments of  which  it  was  composed.  The  pub- 
lished texts  did  not  suffice  for  such  a  work; 
they  needed  to  be  supplemented  from  that  great 
mass  of  unpubhshed  cuneiform  documents  with 
which  the  rooms  of  our  museums  are  filled.  My 
lectures  were  necessarily  provisional  and  pre- 
liminary only,  and  I  had  to  content  myself  with 
erecting  a  scaffold  on  which  others  might  build. 
The  time  had  not  yet  come  for  writing  a  sys- 
tematic description  of  Babylonian  religion,  and 
of  the  phases  through  which  it  passed  during 
the  long  centuries  of  its  existence."^  This 
states  very  well  the  great  difficulty  of  the  task. 
The  results  achieved  were  remarkable.  Every 
worker  from  that  day  onward  had  before  him 
a  scheme  from  which  as  a  point  of  departure 
fresh  progress  was  to  be  made.  The  influence 
of  the  book  lives  on,  though  time  and  fresh 
research  have  corrected  some  of  its  conclusions 
and  modified  others.  It  was  foundation-laying 
work,  and  for  years  no  attempt  was  made  to 
supersede  it. 

The  next  great  forward  movement  in  the 
study  of  the  Babylonian  religion  lay  in  the  in- 
vestigation of  special  subjects  and  in  the  publi- 
cation of  religious  texts.     In  this  Rawlinson 


>  A.  H.  Sayce,  The  Religions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  The 
Gifford  Lectures  on  the  Ancient  Egyptian  and  Babylonian  Conception 
of  the  Divine,  p.  252.     Edinburgh,  1902. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  45 

had  already  made  a  most  important  beginning/ 
to  be  followed  very  soon  by  a  series  of  publica- 
tions by  Professor  Heinrich  Zimmern,  of  the 
University  of  Leipzig,  the  first  devoted  to  the 
Penitential  Psalms,^  and  the  others  to  incanta- 
tions and  their  liturgical  use.^  These  laid  the 
foundations  in  their  field,  displaying  not  merely 
a  wide  grasp  of  the  material,  but  a  philological 
acumen  of  the  first  order.  During  this  same 
period  Professor  Paul  Haupt,  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  pubhshed  the 
great  national  Babylonian  epic  in  masterly 
fashion,*  while  J.  A.  Knudtzon,^  James  A. 
Craig,"  and  George  Reisner'  in  rapid  succession 
provided  an  abundance  of  material  for  the  stu- 
dent of  the  religious  books.  The  systematic 
and  scientific  study  of  the  cosmologies  begins 
with  Professor  Peter  Jensen,  of  the  University 
of  Marburg,^  whose  work  was  rapidly  followed 
by  new  contributions  of  the  highest  importance 


1  .4  Selection  from  the  Miscellaneous  Inscriptions  of  Western  Asia, 
ed.  by  H.  C.  Rawlinson.  London,  1875.  Second  edition,  ed.  by  T.  G. 
Pinches,  1891. 

*  Heinrich  Zimmern,  Bahylonische  Busspsalmen.     Leipzig,  1885. 

*  Heinrich  Zimmern,  Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss  der  Bahylonischen  Re- 
ligion, (a)  Beschworunstafeln  Shurpu,  (b)  Ritualtafeln  fur  den  Wahr- 
soger,  Beschworer,  und  Sanger.     Leipzig,  1901. 

*  Paul  Haupt,  Das  Bahylonische  Nimrodepos.    2  vols.    Leipzig,  1891. 
6  J.  A.  Knudtzon,  Assyrische  Gekete  an  den  Sonnengott.    2  vols.    Leip- 
zig, 1893. 

«  James  A.  Craig,  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  Religious  Texts.  2  vols. 
Leipzig,  1895,  1897. 

">  George  Reisner,  Sumerisch-Babylonische  Hymnen.    Berlin,  1896. 
8  Peter  Jensen,  Kosmologic  der  Babylonier.     Strassburg,  1890. 


46        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

from  Professor  Friedrich  Delitzsch/  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin,  until  Leonard  W.  King^  placed 
the  capstone  upon  this  part  of  the  structure  in 
the  publication,  with  large  additions  of  new 
material,  of  all  the  creation  myths  of  Baby- 
lonia. The  same  scholar  had  previously  dis- 
cussed the  magical  texts^  and  Dr.  R.  C. 
Thompson,'*  C.  Fossey,^  A.  Boissier,'  and 
Charles  Virolleaud'  had  made  important  con- 
tributions to  the  same  field.  Many  of  these 
works  would  have  been  impossible  but  for  the 
self-sacrificing  labor  of  Dr.  Carl  Bezold,  after- 
ward professor  in  the  University  of  Heidelberg, 
who  began  in  1889,  and  completed  ten  years 
later,  the  publication  in  five  volumes  of  a  cata- 
logue of  all  the  cuneiform  tablets  in  the 
Kuyunjik  collection  of  the  British  Museum. 

The  publication  of  texts  and  the  systematic 
ordering  of  the  material  which  they  had  sup- 
plied gave  the  call  for  a  presentation  of  the 
religion  as  a  whole,  for  they  naturally  super- 
seded,   in   large   measure,    the   brilliant    work 


1  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  Das  Babylonische  Wdtschopfungsepos.  Leipzig, 
1896. 

2  L.  W.  King,  The  Seven  Tablets  of  Creation;  or,  the  Babylonian  and 
Assyrian  Legends  concerning  the  Creation  of  the  World  and  of  Man- 
kind.   2  vols.     London,  1902. 

'  L.  W.  King,  Babylonian  Magic  and  Sorcery.     London,  1896. 

*  R.  C.  Thompson,  The  Reports  of  the  Magicians  and  Astrologers  of 
Nineveh  and  Babylon.     2  vols.     London,  1900. 

*  C.  Fossey,  La  Magie  Assyrienne.     Paris,  1902. 

*  A.  Boissier,  Document  Assyriens  relatifs  aux  prSsages.  Paris,  1894fif. 
^  Ch.  ViroUeaud,  L'Astrologie  Chaldiene.     Paris,  1903ff. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  A  LOST  RELIGION  47 

which  Sayce  had  done  in  the  Hibbert  Lectures. 
A  pioneer  in  this  work  was  the  distinguished 
C.  P.  Tiele/  of  Leyden,  whose  very  brief  sketch 
showed  the  breadth  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  rehgions;  while  Friedrich  Jeremias^ 
gave  a  clear  presentation  of  the  knowledge 
then  attained,  and  his  brother  Alfred  Jeremias^ 
made  elaborate  studies  of  the  various  gods  of 
the  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  pantheon,  which 
are  models  of  their  kind. 

In  1898  appeared  the  first  complete  treatise 
upon  the  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria  by 
Professor  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,*  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  followed  in  the  very  next  year 
by  a  brief  but  able  book  by  the  indefatigable 
Dr.  King,'  of  the  British  Museum.  In  1901 
Professor  Sayce ^  again  gave  a  series  of  lectures, 
from  which  I  have  already  made  a  significant 
quotation.  Very  shortly  after  the  publication 
of  this  first  book  in  English  Professor  Jastrow 
began  its  translation  into  German,  issuing  the 
book  in  parts  beginning  with  the  year  1902  and 


1  C.  p.  Tiele,  Geschichte  de-i  Religion  im  Alterthitm,  part  i,  pp.  127—216, 
Die  Religion  in  Bab.  und  Assyrian.    Gotha,  1895. 

2  Friedrich  Jeremias,  Die  Babylonier  und  Assyrer,  in  Chantepie  de  la 
Saussaye,  Lehrbuch  der  Religionsgeschichte,  i,  pp.  163-221. 

*  In  Roscher,  Ausfilhrliches  Lexikon  der  Griechischen  und  Romischen 
Mythologie. 

*  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  The  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria.    Boston, 
1898. 

*  L.  W.  King,  Babylonian  Religion  and  Mythology.    London,  1899. 

"  A.  H.  Sayce,  The  Religions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia.    Edin- 
burgh, 1902. 


48        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

now  (1908)  almost  completed/  It  has  far  ex- 
ceeded the  limits  of  a  mere  translation,  being 
filled  with  fresh  texts  and  carrying  the  investi- 
gation of  the  entire  subject  to  points  impossible 
in  1898.  It  is  a  work  of  almost  monumental 
character  and  represents  the  present  state  of 
knowledge. 

We  have  surveyed  the  history  of  Assyrian 
research  from  its  beginning  to  the  present 
day,  and  may  now  turn  to  ask  what  we  have 
learned  of  this  ancient  faith  once  more  restored 
to  knowledge,  and  to  ask  also  what  are  its  re- 
lations to  the  faith  of  Israel  and  its  sacred 
books. 


•  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Die  Religion  Babyloniens  und  Assyriena,  Baud  i. 
Giessen,  1904. 


LECTURE  II 

THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Far  away  in  the  mists  which  cover  the 
earhest  of  human  habitations  we  can  discern 
in  southern  Babylonia  signs  of  Hfe,  society, 
and  government  in  certain  cities.  More  than 
four  thousand  years  before  Christ  civiUzation 
had  already  reached  a  high  point,  the  arts  of 
life  had  made  much  progress,  and  men  were 
able  to  write  down  their  thoughts  and  words 
in  intelligible  language.  Here  we  stand  at  the 
beginning  of  history;  man  can  write.  He  has 
acquired  that  high  feeling  of  self-consciousness 
which  impels  him  to  write  down  his  name  and 
to  boast  of  his  deeds.  Beyond  that  day,  farther 
and  farther  back  into  the  centuries,  stretch 
those  long  prehistoric  ages,  of  which  we  can 
form  only  a  conjectural  picture.  The  mists 
are  penetrated  here  and  there  by  little  rays  of 
light  from  the  earliest  written  records  of  the 
historic  period;  and  sometimes  an  inference 
from  some  broken  statue,  from  some  geo- 
graphical fact,  from  some  little  anthropological 
datum  may  enable  our  vision  to  discern  mov- 
ing races,  conquering  kings,  and  murmuring 
priests. 

49 


50        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

In  the  earliest  historic  period  we  find  two 
quite  distinct  peoples  dwelling  and  working 
in  Babylonia.  One  of  these  we  call  the  Su- 
merians/  the  other  the  Semitic  Babylonians. 
The  former  are  of  unknown  origin,  having  been 
connected  with  various  peoples,  from  those 
dwelling  along  the  Zagros  to  the  Mongols  in 
the  far  east.  The  Semites,  who  appear  first 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  country,  originated 
in  all  probability  in  Arabia;  the  Sumerians, 
who  in  the  earliest  times  controlled  the  south, 
may  have  entered  the  land  by  way  of  the  Per- 
sian Gulf.  The  differences  between  the  two 
races  are  clearly  shown  in  their  sculpture.    The 


1  There  has  been,  since  1874,  an  earnest  controversy  as  to  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Sumerians.  It  was  begun  by  the  distinguished  Parisian 
Orientalist  Joseph  Hal6vy,  who  tried  to  show  that  the  Sumerian  lan- 
guage was  merely  an  ideographic  system  of  writing  invented  by  the 
Assyrian  priests.  At  first  his  views  met  with  the  support  of  some 
eminent  names,  but  he  now  numbers  but  few  supporters.  Professor 
Jastrow  {Die  Religion  Bahylomens  und  Assyrie7is,  i,  pp.  18ff.)  has  sup- 
ported Halevy's  contention,  in  the  main,  and  argued  earnestly  that  the 
matter  must  not  be  considered  a  chose  jugie,  but  in  the  recently  pub- 
lished parts  of  the  new  German  edition  of  his  book  he  seems  more  and 
more  to  depart  from  Halevy's  position,  though  I  have  no  evidence 
that  he  has  positively  accepted  the  opposing  view.  I  have  already  dis- 
cussed the  matter  (History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  i,  pp.  200-215), 
and  need  only  say  here  that  the  succeeding  years  have  confirmed  the 
judgment  there  expressed,  and  repeated  above.  The  history  of  the 
whole  controversy  is  given  by  F.  H.  Weissbach,  Die  Sumerische  Frage, 
Leipzig,  1898.  Since  then  Pinches  and  Sayce  have  published  {Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archceology,  xxiv,  1902,  pp.  lOSff.) 
Greek  transcriptions  of  Sumerian  words  exactly  the  same  as  those  which 
are  in  use  to-day.  I  do  not  see  how  this  evidence  can  be  successfully 
disposed  of.  The  important  discussion  of  the  question  by  Eduard 
Meyer  {Sumerier  und  Semiten  in  Babylonien,  Abhandlungen  der  konig- 
lich  Preussischen  Akademie  der  Wissenschaften,  1906,  Philosoph. — 
hist.  Classe;  also  published  separatelj',  Berlin,  1906)  ought  here  to  be 
especially'  commended. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA       51 

Semites  wore  long  beards,  carefully,  even  fan- 
tastically, braided  or  arranged,  and  also  long 
hair.  They  were  clad  in  colored  garments,  and 
wore  sandals.  The  Sumerians,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  no  beard,  and  even  shaved  the  head. 
They  wore  a  long  mantle,  and  covered  neither 
the  feet  with  shoes  nor  the  head  with  a  hat/ 
It  was  the  Sumerians  who  invented  and  applied 
the  elements  of  the  cuneiform  writing,  which 
the  Semites  adopted  from  them  and  modi- 
fied as  time  progressed.  It  served  fairly 
well  to  express  the  agglutinative  speech  of  its 
inventors,  but  failed  most  awkwardly  to  ex- 
press the  sounds  of  Semitic  speech. 

Most  of  the  earliest  inscriptions  which  have 
come  down  to  us,  while  written  for  the  greater 
part  in  Sumerian,  contain  in  some  degree  a 
mixture  of  Semitic  words.  The  Sumerians  were 
gradually,  though  very  slowly,  forced  back- 
ward by  conquest  into  subjection,  and  then 
disappeared  by  amalgamation.  Recent  in- 
vestigation would  seem  to  indicate  that  they 
existed  to  a  much  later  day  than  was  formerly 
thought  possible. 

These  two  peoples  in  the  earlier  days  in- 
teracted upon  each  other.  The  elements  of 
Semitic  religion  were  intermingled  with  those 
of  the  Sumerians;  the  myths  of  the  Semites 
were  adopted  by  their  predecessors,  who  made 
their    contributions    to    the    store    of    Semitic 

»  Meyer,  op.  cit.,  p.  8ff. 


52        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

myth  and  legend.  Even  at  this  late  day  we  can 
read  in  the  inscriptions  of  kings,  both  early  and 
late,  names  of  gods  which  are  surely  Semitic,  and 
others  which  seem  quite  as  certainly  Simaerian. 

It  would  be  interesting,  if  only  it  were  pos- 
sible, to  trace  the  separate  influences  of  the 
Sumerian  and  Semitic  peoples  in  that  long 
sweep  of  history.  We  must  be  content  to  follow 
the  history  in  its  broad  lines  without  even 
seeking  to  know  what  racial  factors  are  in  it. 

Without  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  history 
of  these  two  peoples  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
understand  the  religion — which  is  the  chief 
purpose  of  these  lectures.  It  is  a  truism  that 
all  religions  are  closely  connected  with  the 
history  of  the  people  who  profess  them.  In 
no  people  is  this  more  true  than  in  the  case  of 
the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians.  A  considerable 
proportion  of  their  theological  development 
has  poUtical  foundation,  and  several  of  their 
gods  are  conditioned  closely  by  the  rise  or  fall 
of  political  power.  In  no  way  so  well  can  we 
approach  the  pantheon  as  through  the  story 
of  the  empire's  rise  and  fall.  I  propose,  there- 
fore, first  of  all  to  outline  the  whole  story  of 
both  peoples  before  I  come  to  the  characteriza- 
tion of  the  gods,  though  in  at  least  two  cases 
we  shall  continually  be  able  to  see  the  gods 
themselves  in  the  very  process  of  theological 
definition  as  our  eyes  follow  the  armies  in  con- 
quest and  the  statesmen  in  empire-building. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        53 

In  the  earliest  period  known  to  us  the  central 
governing  fact  was  a  city,  with  a  king  and  a 
local  deity.  The  god  is  so  related  to  his  wor- 
shipers that  as  they  grew  in  wealth  and  power 
so  did  he.  Impelled  sometimes  by  ambition, 
often  by  hunger  for  bread,  these  petty  kings 
conquered  communities  in  their  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  extended  their  sway.  If 
the  inhabitants  of  Erech  could  conquer  the 
people  of  Larsa,  was  not  this  a  proof  that  their's 
was  the  stronger  god,  and  should  not  the  con- 
quered folk,  or  others  who  knew  his  prowess, 
also  worship  him?  Herein  we  may  discern  the 
beginnings  of  small  kingdoms,  and  the  gradual 
founding  of  a  pantheon. 

In  these  early  days  the  name  of  Babylonia 
was  Kengi — that  is,  ''land  of  canals  and  reeds." 
Even  then  the  waters  were  conveyed  to  the 
fields  and  cities  in  artificially  constructed  canals, 
while  the  most  characteristic  form  of  vegetable 
life  was  the  reed,  growing  luxuriantly  along  the 
water  courses.  In  the  southern  part  of  this 
canal  country,  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  lay  the  city 
of  Eridu,  perhaps  the  oldest  city  known  to  us 
in  the  world.  Its  chief  god  was  Ea.  We  do  not 
know  so  much  as  the  name  of  any  of  its  early 
kings,  but  the  wide  recognition  in  later  times 
of  its  god  would  seem  to  warrant  the  inference 
that  it  had  at  one  time  exercised  sway  over  a 
large  part  of  Babylonia. 

The  earliest  king  in  Babylonia  whose  name 


54        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

has  come  down  to  us  was  Enshagkushanna,  the 
pohtical  center  of  whose  kingdom  was  either 
Erech  or  Shirpurla,  but  the  rehgious  center  was 
Nippur.  The  god  whom  he  acknowledged 
was  En-hl,  to  whom  he  dedicated  a  calcite 
stalagmite  vase,  which  has  come  down  to  us 
broken  into  fragments  indeed,  but  still  able 
to  witness  to  an  ancient  faith.  This  god  has 
honors  heaped  upon  him  by  the  peoples  of 
other  places,  and  as  Semitic  civilization  rose 
triumphant  over  Sumerian  he  was  identified  with 
the  god  Bel. 

To  this  same  period  belong  a  line  of  rulers 
with  Sumerian  names,  such  as  Lugal-shag- 
Engur,  Ur-Nina,  Akurgal,  who  ruled  at  Shir- 
purla  or  Lagash,  the  ruins  of  which  are  covered 
by  the  modern  mound  of  Telloh.  One  of  these 
monarchs,  named  Eannatum,  has  left  a  long 
inscription,  boasting  of  the  lands  he  had  sub- 
jugated and  the  cities  he  had  destroyed,  naming 
among  others  Erech,  Ur,  Larsa,  Gishku,  Kish, 
and  Elam.* 

During  all  this  period,  when  the  city  king- 
doms in  the  south  were  rising  and  falling,  there 
was  in  northern  Babylonia  one  city  of  which 
little  is  heard — the  city  of  Babylon.  The  city 
could  not  be  great  until  it  had  found  a  great 
man.  The  sixth  king  of  the  first  dynasty  of 
Babylon   was   Hammurabi,    who   ruled   about 

1  On  these  early  kings  the  excellent  r6sum4  by  Albert  T.  Clay  {Light 
on  the  Old  Testament  from  Babel,  p.  38ff.)  may  now  be  consulted. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        55 

two  thousand  years  before  Christ.  This  dynasty 
was  founded  by  invaders  from  Arabia,  and  for 
three  hundred  years  it  maintained  its  supremacy 
in  Babylonia.  But,  great  as  the  dynasty  was  in 
power,  it  never  again  produced  a  man  of  such 
conmianding  influence  and  power  as  Ham- 
murabi. It  was  his  military  prowess  which 
united  all  Babylonia  under  a  single  sovereignty. 
The  old  city  kingdoms  disappeared,  the  old 
dynastic  titles — King  of  Sumer  and  Accad — 
lived  on  only  as  conventional  relics  of  a  bygone 
day,  while  Babylon,  and  only  Babylon,  became 
the  city  of  royalty  and  destiny.  It  was  the 
genius  of  Hammurabi  that  supplied  the  city 
with  civil  government,  and  extended  order  and 
justice  over  the  whole  realm  by  a  code  of  laws^ 
•which  is  even  yet  the  wonder  and  admiration 
of  the  whole  world.  The  aggrandizement  of 
Babylon  was  the  means  of  elevating  her  patron 
deity  Marduk  to  a  position  at  the  head  of  the 
pantheon  that  then  existed.  There  is  no  more 
interesting  development  in  all  the  history  of 
the  Babylonian  religion  than  this  rise  of  Marduk 
to  supremacy.  The  religious  literature  that 
had  come  down  from  ancient  days  was  so 
changed  as  to  accord  the  new  honors  to  Marduk, 


1  The  Code  of  Hammurabi,  discovered  December,  1901,  and  January, 
1902,  by  J.  de  Morgan  at  Susa  and  published  by  Seheil  in  Mimoires  de 
la  DilSgation  en  Perse,  vol.  v,  has  been  repeatedly  translated  into  several 
languages.  The  most  important  for  English  readers  are  bj'  C.  H.  W. 
Johns  in  Hastings's  Bible  Dictionary,  Extra  Volume,  pp.  584ff.,  and  by 
R.  F.  Harper.  The  Code  of  Hammurabi,  Chicago,  1904. 


56        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

displacing  other  gods  by  him.  We  shall  see 
later  how  other  gods  were  glorified  by  their 
worshipers  from  time  to  time,  how  Shamash 
received  honors  that  seemed  to  threaten  the 
preeminence  of  Marduk,  but  it  was  all  in  vain. 
Down  through  that  long  line  of  the  centuries 
from  2000  B.C.  to  500  B.C.  he  remained  the 
chief  god  of  the  city  of  Babylon,  and  none  could 
take  away  his  palm  of  victory.  It  is  a  fascinat- 
ing story  of  the  political  ascendency  of  a  god; 
as  his  people  grew  in  power,  so  also  did  he.  It 
is  a  marvel,  but  there  are  greater  marvels  in  a 
neighboring  faith. 

The  first  dynasty  of  Babylon  fell  before  an 
overpowering  invasion  of  the  Hittites  from  the 
far  western  mountains  above  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea*;  and  when  the  turmoil  was  over 
Kassite  rulers  established  themselves  upon  the 
throne  which  Hammurabi  had  made  great. 
They  accepted  the  dominant  faith,  adminis- 
tered the  country  with  an  iron  hand  and  ex- 
tended its  borders,  and  when  their  dominion 
came  to  an  end,  about  1200  B.C.,  the  glory 
and  power  of  Marduk  were  assured  until  Baby- 
lon should  pass  from  Semitic  hands  forever. 

During  all  the  period  of  Marduk's  growth  in 
power,  as  his  victorious  people  were  sweeping 

1  This  fact,  that  it  was  a  Hittite  invasion  which  began  the  downfall, 
is  due  to  a  discovery  of  L.  W.  King  {Chronicles  concerning  Early  Baby- 
lonian Kings,  i,  pp.  57,  59,  72,  149,  etc.).  The  matter  is  of  the  highest 
importance  in  the  reconstruction  of  ancient  history,  for  it  affords  a  new 
view  of  the  Hittites,  and  a  new  appreciation  of  their  position. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        57 

other  peoples  into  their  net,  a  somewhat  similar 
movement  was  in  progress  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris  in  the  northern  part  of  the  great  valley. 
Assyria  had  been  settled  in  the  beginning  by 
colonists  from  Babylonia,  and  the  original  stock 
was  therefore  the  same.  But  while  in  Baby- 
lonia there  was  from  the  beginning  a  great  mix- 
ture of  blood,  through  the  constant  introduction 
of  new  strains  by  conquest  or  peaceful  settle- 
ment, in  Assyria,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Semitic 
strain  remained  comparatively  pure.  The  dif- 
ferences in  blood  worked  out  into  great  national 
differences  which  persisted  until  the  end  of  both 
kingdoms.  The  Assyrians  were  the  more  vig- 
orous and  warlike,  while  the  Babylonians  more 
and  more,  until  the  Chaldean  domination,  be- 
came the  custodians  of  an  ancient  culture,  and 
the  founders  of  a  noble  civilization. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Assyrian  power  the 
relations  with  Babylonia  were  peaceful,  but 
in  the  twelfth  century  began  a  series  of  contests 
for  the  control  of  the  whole  great  valley.  The 
first  contest  was  between  Nebuchadrezzar  I 
(about    1140    B.C.),'    king    of    Babylon,    and 

»  To  what  I  have  said  in  my  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  i,  426, 
there  is  now  to  be  added  a  discussion  by  Hilprecht  (The  Babylonian 
Expedition  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  xx,  part  i,  Mathemat- 
ical, Metrological,  and  Chronological  Tablets  from  the  Temple  Library 
of  Nippur,  p.  44  and  especially  footnote  1.  Philadelphia,  1906).  In 
this  place  Hilprecht  says:  "I  have  been  convinced  that  the  objections 
raised  by  Winckler  and  others  against  ray  placing  Nebuchadrezzar  I 
at  the  head  of  the  second  dynasty  of  Isin  ( — PA-SHE)  are  justified." 
As  I  was  one  of  the  "others"  who  argued  against  Hilprecht's  former 
view  I  am  glad  to  have  his  able  support. 


58        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Ashurrishishi,  king  of  Assyria,  and  the  Baby- 
lonian king  was  defeated,  and  forced  to  retreat 
in  a  rout,  having  burned  his  baggage  to  Ughten 
his  return  to  Babylon.  The  Assyrian  king  did 
not  follow  up  his  advantage,  nor  attempt  to 
seize  territory  previously  acknowledged  as  be- 
longing to  his  adversary,  but  it  was  ominous 
for  the  future  of  Babylonia  that  one  of  the 
ablest  kings  she  had  yet  had  was  defeated  by  a 
king  out  of  Assyria.  In  a  few  years  only,  during 
the  reign  of  Marduk-nadin-akhe,  king  of  Baby- 
lon (about  1117-1096),  the  Assyrian  king 
Tiglathpileser  I  swept  victoriously  over  the 
northern  part  of  Babylonia,  capturing  a  num- 
ber of  cities,  and  even  took  Babylon  itself. 
This  was  the  first  great  blow  at  Babylonian  in- 
dependence, and  though  the  Assyrians  did  not 
attempt  to  hold  the  city,  the  results  could  not 
but  be  felt  for  years. 

The  Assyrian  kings  who  succeeded  Tiglath- 
pileser were  not  able  to  wield  his  sword,  and 
soon  a  policy  of  conciliation  was  adopted,  and 
the  Assyrian  king  Ashurbelkala  gave  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  the  king  of  Babylonia. 
During  these  days  the  Assyrians  were  chiefly 
occupied  in  the  strengthening  and  solidifying  of 
their  kingdom,  while  the  Babylonians  were  too 
weak  to  undertake  campaigns  of  conquest.  The 
Babylonians  had  lost  the  key  to  Western  Asia 
and  the  Assyrians  had  found  it.  The  little  city 
kingdom    of    Babylonia   under   the   genius    of 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        59 

Hammurabi  had  become  a  great  and  powerful 
empire.  None  had  dared  dispute  its  onward 
march  for  a  thousand  years,  but  now  its  own 
daughter  state  had  blocked  its  path,  and  the 
Babylonians  would  never  again  enjoy  to  the 
same  degree  an  independence  and  a  hegemony 
over  other  peoples. 

And  now  we  shall  do  well  to  look  back  over 
this  great  onward  and  upward  movement  of 
Assyria,  and  observe  its  religious  side.  The 
first  Assyrian  capital  city  was  Asshur,  the  first 
rulers  in  Asshur  were  contemporaneous  with 
the  great  first  dynasty  of  Babylon,  to  which 
Hammurabi  belonged.  The  chief  god  of  the 
city  of  Asshur  bore  the  name  Ashur.  He  is  a 
local  deity,  as  was  Marduk  at  Babylon,  but 
though  Marduk  always  remained  at  Babylon, 
Ashur  accompanied  his  people  when  the  capital 
was  changed  to  Calah,  and  then  to  Nineveh 
and  thence  to  Dur-Sharrukin  (Khorsabad)  and 
back  again  to  Nineveh.  As  the  Assyrian  arms 
advanced  victorious  west  and  north  and  south, 
so  did  the  god  Ashur  advance  in  power  and 
dignity  and  rank.  But  in  the  period,  which 
we  have  now  reached,  in  our  historical  survey, 
when  the  Assyrians  had  conquered  Babylon 
they  made  no  attempt  to  introduce  the  worship 
of  Ashur  into  the  southern  capital,  much  less 
to  supplant  Marduk.  The}^  appeared  rather  as 
willing  worshipers  of  Marduk,  and  offered  sacri- 
fices in  his  temple,  at  the  very  moment  when 


60        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

their  inscriptions  ascribed  their  victories  over 
their  kinsfolk  to  the  power  of  Ashur. 

The  period  of  Assyrian  weakness,  during 
which  Babylonia  had  enjoyed  some  measure  of 
political  independence,  ceased  in  885  B.C.,  when 
Ashurnazirpal  III  came  to  the  throne.  He 
inherited  a  kingdom  rich  rather  in  possibilities 
than  in  actual  possessions,  but  no  king  like  unto 
him  had  ever  before  arisen  in  the  little  state  by 
the  Tigris,  and  the  power  of  the  Assyrian 
commonwealth  grew  apace.  The  Aramaic  peo- 
ples in  Mesopotamia  and  along  the  Euphrates 
were  conquered,  and  the  Assyrian  arms  were 
once  more  felt  all  the  way  to  the  Mediterranean. 
Wherever  he  went  cities  were  destroyed,  sowed 
with  salt,  and  their  inhabitants  slain  or  brutally 
abused.  Ashur  is  his  chief  aid,  counselor,  and 
stay,  and  as  peoples  and  petty  kingdoms  went 
down  beneath  the  Assyrian  standards,  so  the 
honor  of  Ashur  was  increased. 

The  successor  of  Ashurnazirpal  was  Shalman- 
eser  II,  a  great  king  of  tremendous  energy  who 
extended  his  dominions,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  Assyrian  history  really  tried  to  govern  them. 
He  made  an  expedition  in  854  against  Syria, 
and  there  met  an  alliance  of  nearly  all  the  small 
western  states,  to  which  Ahab,  king  of  Israel, 
made  a  contribution  of  men.  This  was  the 
first  contact  between  the  Assyrian  power  and 
the  Hebrew  kingdom.  Shalmaneser  was  again 
in  the  west  in  849,  846,  842,  and  839.     The 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        61 

Assyrian  was  beating  in  successive  blows  against 
the  defenses  of  the  small  states  in  Western  Asia, 
and  his  success  in  the  end  was  certain.  For 
nearly  a  hundred  years  after  the  death  of 
Shalmaneser  there  arose  kings  in  Assyria,  not 
indeed  so  powerful  as  Ashurnazirpal  and  Shal- 
maneser, yet  able  to  continue  the  development 
of  the  kingdom.  There  were  the  usual  troubles 
that  beset  Oriental  states,  quarrels  over  the 
succession,  and  rebellions  against  the  king  who 
had  gained  the  throne.  In  the  midst  of  one  of 
these  rebellions  the  djmasty  that  had  long  been 
ruling  disappeared  and  a  usurper,  Tiglath- 
pileser  IV,^  known  to  the  Hebrews  also  as  Pul,^ 
came  to  the  throne.  His  accession  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  new  age  in  the  development  of 
the  empire. 

If  Shalmaneser  had  begun  the  attempt  really 
to  rule  the  conquered  dependencies,  it  was 
Tiglathpileser  who  first  applied  deportation  and 
colonization  as  means  for  the  complete  subju- 


1  This  is  the  king  who  was  formerly  known  to  Assyriologists  as  Tig- 
lathpileser II,  and  who  later  became  known  as  Tiglathpileser  III,  by 
which  name  he  is  known  in  most,  even  of  the  more  recent,  publications. 
Andrae  has  now  shown  that  he  must  be  designated  as  Tiglathpileser  IV, 
through  the  discovery  of  another  king  who  preceded  him  and  bore  the 
same  name.  See  Andrae,  Mittheilungen  der  Deutschen  Orient  Gesellschaft, 
No.  32  (Nov.,  1906),  pp.  19ff.,  and  compare  King,  Chronicles  Concerning 
Early  Babylonian  Kings,  i,  p.  202,  n.  2. 

2  2  Kings  15.  19.  In  1  Chron.  5.  26,  the  writer  considered  Pul  and 
Tiglathpileser  as  different  persons.  There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt 
that  they  are  the  same  person.  The  Babylonian  Chronicle  and  the 
Ptolemaic  Canon  place  this  beyond  dispute.  See  Winckler,  Die  Keilin- 
schriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  3te  Auf.,  p.  50,  and  Clay,  Light  on  the 
Old  Testament  from  Babel,  p.  326. 


62         RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

gation  and  control  of  other  peoples.  He  went 
all  over  Western  Asia  in  conquest;  Damascus 
fell  before  him,  northern  Babylonia  was  reduced, 
and  the  conqueror  adopted  the  style  ''King  of 
Sumer  and  Akkad/'  as  though  he  were  the 
successor  of  the  great  Babylonian  kings  who 
had  borne  that  title.  In  the  west  he  was,  if 
possible,  still  more  successful.  All  northern 
Syria  became  Assyrian  territory,  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  west  paid  heavy  tribute.  His  great 
reign  culminated  in  728  B.C.,  when  he  actually 
took  the  hands  of  Marduk  in  Babylon  in  token 
of  his  sonship,  and  ascended  the  throne  as  king 
of  Babylon — the  proudest  royal  title  in  the 
world.  In  the  next  year  he  was  dead.  He  had 
raised  Assyria  to  a  position  of  power  unequalled 
by  that  of  any  other  people,  and  the  god  Ashur 
had  shared  in  the  upward  movement.  He  was 
no  longer  a  mere  local  deity,  but  one  of  the 
greatest  of  all  the  gods.  Shalmaneser  had  at- 
tempted to  give  great  honor  to  Shamash,  but 
Tiglathpileser  consistently  gives  the  highest 
place  to  Ashur,  god  of  battles,  as  he  had  almost 
completely  come  to  be. 

In  the  short  reign  of  Shalmaneser  IV  (727- 
723  B.C.)  the  Assyrians  besieged  Samaria,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Sargon  II  (722- 
705  B.C.)  the  city  succumbed.  Sargon  followed 
very  nearly  in  the  course  of  Tiglathpileser  IV, 
and  through  tremendous  difficulties  carried  the 
empire  far  beyond  its  former  position.    Though 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        63 

the  whole  west  ''seethed  with  hate  and  discon- 
tent against  the  Assyrian/'  he  reduced  it  to 
subjection,  and  though  Babylonia  had  found  a 
leader  of  consummate  ability  in  the  person  of 
Merodach-baladan,  Sargon  overcame  "the  blas- 
phemous usurper,  who,  for  twelve  years,  had, 
against  the  will  of  the  gods,  ruled  and  tyran- 
nized over  Babylonia."^  Sargon  built  himself 
a  new  capital  city,  twenty  miles  away  from 
Nineveh  on  the  foothills,  and  named  it  Dur- 
Sharrukin.  There  he  died  in  705  at  the  hands 
of  an  assassin.  His  inscriptions  are  full  of  re- 
ligious passages,  of  praises  to  divers  gods. 
Unlike  Tiglathpileser's  constant  praise  of  Ashur, 
Sargon  honors  Shamash,  Adad,  Bel,  Belit,  Anu, 
Ishtar,  Ea,  Belit-ilani,  Ninib,  and  many  others. 
The  successor  of  Sargon  was  his  son  Sen- 
nacherib, whose  name  the  Old  Testament  had 
long  made  familiar  to  all  men.  A  boastful, 
arrogant,  and  cruel  man,  he  was  unable  to  equal 
the  position  held  by  his  father,  and  the  empire 
was  weakened,  not  strengthened,  by  his  policy. 
At  the  very  beginning  of  his  reign  he  invaded 
Babylonia  and  punished  it  severely  for  having 
again  accepted  Merodach-baladan  as  its  king. 
Over  the  proud  Babylonians  he  set  up  a  puppet 
king,  who,  he  says,  ''like  a  little  dog  had  been 
brought  up  in  my  palace."     In  the  year  701 


'  The  rhetoric  belongs  to  Sargon's  historiographer  (Triumphal  In- 
scription, lines  121-124),  and  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  hatreds  of  a 
warlike  age. 


64         RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

he  invaded  Judah,  and  though  he  did  not  take 
Jerusalem,  he  left  it  "like  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of 
cucumbers/'  for  he  had  ravaged  all  Judah.  He 
attacked  it  again  in  690,  but  had  to  return  to 
invade  Babylonia  to  drive  out  the  persistent 
Merodach-baladan,  who  had  taken  the  oppor- 
tunity which  Sennacherib's  absence  in  the  west 
had  afforded  him,  and  was  seated  once  more  on 
the  throne  of  Hammurabi.  Sennacherib  seems 
to  have  been  filled  with  an  overmastering  pas- 
sion of  hate,  a  madness  of  fury.  He  took  Baby- 
lon, and  in  the  year  689  destroyed  it  by  fire, 
and  left  the  noblest  city  that  had  ever  stood 
in  Western  Asia  a  heap  of  blackened  ruins.  It 
seems  the  act  of  a  madman,  for  it  impoverished 
the  world  by  the  loss  of  untold  treasures  which 
a  gifted  people  had  devised  and  executed  during 
the  long  roll  of  the  centuries  since  the  days  of 
Hammurabi.  To  him  it  was  a  triumph  of  the 
gods,  an  enrichment  of  their  glory  and  honor. 
As  he  set  out  on  this  mission  of  destruction  he 
had  prayed  "to  Ashur,  Sin,  Shamash,  Bel,  Nabu, 
Nergal,  Ishtar  of  Nineveh,  Ishtar  of  Arbela, 
the  gods  in  whom  I  had  confidence,  that  I  might 
conquer  the  powerful  enemy.  They  gave  ear  to 
my  prayers  at  once  and  came  to  my  help.  ...  I 
seized  the  strong  bow  which  Ashur  had  in- 
trusted to  me,  and  I  grasped  the  javelin  which 
destroys  life."  From  Babylon  Sennacherib  re- 
turned to  spend  eight  years  more  of  life,  and 
then  in  681,  when  he  was  kneeling  at  the  shrine 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        65 

of  Nisroch;*  his  god,  he  was  assassinated  by  his 
son,^  and  the  reign  of  blood  was  over. 

Esarhaddon,  second  son  of  Sennacherib,  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  and  became  in  a  few  years 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  kings  of  Assyria.  He 
saw  the  folly  of  the  destruction  of  Babylon,  and 
it  is  the  chief  glory  of  his  reign  that  he  began, 
and  partially  carried  out,  its  complete  restora- 
tion. It  is  most  interesting  to  see  that  he 
ascribes  its  destruction  to  the  anger  of  the  god 
Marduk:  ''To  overthrow  the  country  and  to  de- 
stroy the  people  he  formed  hostile  plans;  the 
canal  Arakhtu,  a  river  of  plenty,  a  mighty  flood, 
like  a  storm-god  was  brought,  and  he  caused  it 
to  come  against  the  city,  its  habitations,  and  its 
temples,  and  he  made  it  resemble  a  ruin.  The 
gods  and  goddesses  residing  therein  ascended 
to  heaven;  the  people  dwelling  within  it  were 
apportioned  to  bonds  and  bands,  and  they  en- 


1  The  god  Nisroch  has  long  been  a  puzzle.  It  is  probably  only  an  in- 
tentional malforming  of  the  name  of  Marduk,  as  Abednego  for  Abed- 
Nebo.  If  this  be  true  the  place  of  Sennacherib's  death  must  be  sought 
in  the  great  temple  of  Marduk  at  Babylon.  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
mention  of  his  death  in  the  inscriptions  of  Ashurbanipal,  who  posi- 
tively afi&rms  that  he  was  slain  there.  This  may  well  enough  be  accom- 
modated to  the  biblical  reference  by  supposing  a  lacuna  in  the  text 
(2  Kings  19.  36,  37)  between  the  two  verses.  See  further  Winckler, 
Die  KeUinschriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  3te  Auf.,  p.  85,  and  Jeremias, 
Das  Alte  Testament  in  Lichte  des  Alien  Orients,  2te  Auf.,  p.  531.  For 
a  quite  different  explanation  see  Hilprecht,  Babylonian  Expedition  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  x.  p.  xvi. 

2  The  Babylonian  Chronicle  gives  only  one  son;  so  also  does  Berosus, 
the  son's  name  according  to  Polyhistor  being  Ardumuzanus,  and  ac- 
cording to  Abydenus,  Adramelus.  The  biblical  passage  gives  two  sons; 
but  it  is  rather  probably  two  names  for  the  one  person.  So  Winckler, 
op.  cit.,  p.  85. 


66        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

tered  into  a  state  of  slavery.  He  had  decreed 
ten  years  as  the  length  of  its  state  of  ruin,  and 
the  merciful  Marduk  was  speedily  appeased, 
and  he  drew  to  his  side  Babylonia  both  above 
and  below.  In  the  eleventh  year  I  gave  orders 
to  reinhabit  it."  At  the  beginning  of  this  in- 
scription Esarhaddon  introduces  himself  as  one 
who  fears  Nabu  and  Marduk,  and  before  he 
begins  the  work  of  Babylon^s  restoration  he 
says:  ''About  the  doing  of  this  work  to  the 
judgment  of  Shamash,  Ramman,  Marduk,  chief 
justice  of  the  gods,  my  lords,  I  bowed;  I  con- 
sulted them." 

The  greatest  achievement  in  war  during  his 
reign  was  the  conquest  of  Egypt.  He  prepared 
long  and  carefully  for  this  great  campaign.  As 
early  as  677  B.C.  he  invaded  Phoenicia  and  de- 
stroyed Sidon,  but  could  not  take  Tyre,  though 
he  battered  at  her  land  doors,  for  her  sea  doors 
stood  open  and  he  could  neither  enter  them 
himself  nor  close  them  to  the  entry  of  supplies. 
But  all  the  rest  of  Syria  offered  a  ready  sub- 
mission, and  when  he  had  weakened  northern 
and  western  Arabia  so  that  it  could  give  Egypt 
no  help,  the  way  lay  open  before  him  into  the 
long  and  splendid  valley  of  the  Nile.  It  was 
in  the  year  670  that  the  Assyrians  entered  the 
Delta  and  went  on  in  three  successful  battles, 
during  the  month  of  July,  to  break  down  the 
defenses  of  Tirhaqa,  the  Ethiopian  king  who 
then  ruled   Egypt,   and   Memphis  was   taken. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        67 

What  a  wealth  of  plunder  must  have  come 
from  that  one  city,  sufficient  in  itself  alone  to 
make  Nineveh  a  "pool"*  of  gold  and  silver. 

The  Assyrian  empire  had  now  attained  the 
zenith  of  its  power  and  glory.  Esarhaddon 
could  write  upon  the  walls  of  a  new  palace 
these  splendid  words  of  pride:  ''Esarhaddon  the 
great  king,  the  powerful  king,  king  of  hosts, 
king  of  Assyria,  governor  of  Babylon,  king  of 
Sumer  and  Akkad,  king  of  the  kings  of  Eg5^t, 
of  Pathros  and  Cush."  To  whom  does  he  ascribe 
all  this  victory?  It  is  to  Ashur  that  it  is  all 
ascribed.  Other  gods  might  help  him  to  re- 
build Babylon,  but  none  but  Ashur  could  help 
him  to  humble  Egypt  in  the  dust.  Here  are 
the  words  with  which  he  begins  the  story  of 
their  great  conquest:  ''When  Ashur  the  great 
lord — in  order  to  show  the  people  the  mightiness 
and  greatness  of  my  deeds — over  the  kings  of 
the  four  quarters  of  the  world  strengthened  my 
royal  rule,  and  spread  abroad  the  fame  of  my 
name,  and  placed  in  my  hand  a  mighty  scepter 
with  which  to  overcome  my  enemies  then  the 
country  (Egypt)  rebelled  against  Assyria.'^ 
The  gods  of  Babylonia  could  not  help  him  in 
such  a  crisis;  there  was  needed  the  strong  bow 
of  Ashur — the  great  god  of  war.  And  even 
Ashur  had  never  wrought  a  greater  wrong  than 
this  sad  desolation  of  Egypt. 

When  Esarhaddon  was  gone  out  from  among 

'  Nahum  2.  8. 


68        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

men  he  left  behind  him  by  will  the  provision^ 
not  that  one  son  should  succeed  him,  but  two, 
and  it  was  just  that  provision  which  began  the 
destruction  of  the  empire.  It  was  his  intention 
that  his  eldest  son,  Ashurbanipal,  should  be 
king  in  Nineveh,  and  that  his  younger  son, 
Shamash-shum-ukin,  should  be  king  in  Baby- 
lon. The  younger  son  was  to  be  supreme  in  the 
ancient  city  which  had  now  been  rebuilt,  and 
should  yet,  in  matters  of  imperial  moment,  be 
subordinate  to  his  brother  who  ruled  in  Nine- 
veh. It  was  an  impossible  arrangement;  the 
one  or  the  other  would  have  to  give  way,  and 
permanent  peace  could  only  be  achieved  through 
civil  war.  It  was  that  civil  war  which  so  sapped 
the  vital  strength  of  Assyria  as  to  prepare  for 
its  end.  Before  the  civil  war  there  were  severe 
conflicts  in  which  decay  begins  to  make  itself 
known. 

When  Esarhaddon  was  dead  Egypt  revolted 
at  once,  and  Ashurbanipal  had  a  severe  cam- 
paign until  Thebes  was  taken,  sacked,  and  the 
army  ''with  full  hands"  returned  home.  Necho 
remained  faithful  to  the  end,  but  his  son  Psam- 
meticus  rebelled  successfully  and  Assyrian  domi- 
nation over  Egypt  ceased  forever.  Never  again 
did  the  Assyrian  empire  reach  so  wide  a  territory 
as  in  the  reign  of  Esarhaddon.  But,  great 
though  this  loss  was,  the  greatest  calamity  of 
the  reign  was  the  victory  over  Shamash-shum- 
ukin,  achieved  at  terrible  sacrifice  of  valuable 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        69 

lives  and  of  great  treasure.  Campaigns  in  Elam 
and  in  Arabia  fill  out  the  measure  of  Ashur- 
banipal's  work  in  war,  for  the  greater  part  of  his 
energy  went  into  building  temples  and  palaces, 
and  he  it  was  whose  eager  desire  to  found  a 
great  royal  library  has  preserved  for  us  a  large 
part  of  all  the  written  records  of  both  Baby- 
lonian and  Assyrian  deeds  and  thoughts  which 
have  come  down  to  us.  For  us  his  true  great- 
ness consists  in  these  works  of  peace,  but  we 
must  not  allow  them  to  blind  our  eyes  to  the 
savagery  with  which  he  waged  war.  There  is  a 
trail  of  blood  and  fire  over  his  story,  and  name- 
less barbarities  inflicted  in  many  places  disgrace 
his  memory.  He  boasts  that  he  had  acquired 
''the  wisdom  of  Nabu,  and  learned  all  the  knowl- 
edge of  writing  of  all  the  scribes."  He  has  the 
largest  pantheon  of  any  of  the  Assyrian  kings, 
and  we  can  still  hear  him  invoking  Ashur, 
Beltis,  Sin,  Shamash,  Adad,  Bel,  Nabu,  Ishtar 
of  Nineveh,  Ishtar  of  Arbela,  Ninib,  Nergal,  and 
others.  But  he  calls  himself  the  son  of  Ashur 
and  Beltis,  and  he  boasts:  ''I  am  a  warlike  man, 
the  favorite  of  Ashur  and  Ishtar." 

The  kings  who  followed  Ashurbanipal  could 
not  lift  his  scepter,  much  less  sway  kingdoms 
beneath  it.  The  empire  fell  rapidly.  The 
Scythian  hordes  swept  over  Western  Asia,  the 
Medes  on  the  east  listened  to  the  suggestion  of 
a  new  usurper  in  Babylonia,  and  in  607-6  B.C. 
the  city  of  Nineveh,  which  had  defied  the  whole 


70        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

earth  and  ruled  its  fairest  portions,  was  taken 
by  the  Medes,  sacked,  and  left  a  heap  of  ruins, 
while  its  proud  inhabitants  were  scattered  on 
the  mountains.  The  god  Ashur  went  down 
with  his  people.  He  was  but  a  god  of  blood  and 
fire,  and  could  not  survive  the  decay  of  the 
powers  of  blood  and  fire  which  alone  had  made 
him  great.  He  had  no  great  ethical  character, 
was  no  better  than  his  people.  As  the  Egyptian 
proverb  has  it,  "The  ox  which  goes  at  the  head 
of  the  herd  and  leads  the  others  to  pasture  is 
but  an  animal  like  his  fellows."^ 

When  the  sword  and  scepter  slipped  from  the 
hands  of  Ashurbanipal  the  supreme  power  in 
Babylon  was  seized  by  the  Chaldeans,  who  had 
so  long  tried  in  vain  to  seize  it.  It  was  a  Chal- 
dean prince,  by  name  Nabopolassar,  who  took 
the  reins  of  government  in  625  B.C.  and  began 
the  upbuilding  of  a  great  new  empire.  We 
know  all  too  little  of  his  reign,  but  we  do  learn 
from  one  of  his  successors  that  it  was  he  who 
incited  the  Medes  to  attack  Nineveh.  He  was 
not  allowed  to  seize  the  great  possessions  of 
Assyria  in  Western  Asia,  for  the  Egyptians 
under  Necho  II  contested  the  claim.  But  the 
greater  son  of  Nabopolassar,  Nebuchadrezzar, 
drove  the  Egyptians  in  a  rout  home,  and  would 
have  successfully  invaded  Egypt  had  not  the 
death  of  his  father  compelled  his  immediate 
return  to  Babylon.    His  further  campaigns  that 

>  Maspero,  The  Struggle  of  the  Nations,  p.  503. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        71 

have  most  deeply  stirred  the  imagination  and 
affected  human  history  were  made  against  the 
tiny  Httle  kingdom  of  Judah.  Its  capital  city, 
Jerusalem,  he  destroyed  in  586  B.C.,  and  car- 
ried away  a  part  of  its  inhabitants  into  Baby- 
lonia. Tyre  baffled  him  as  it  had  many  another 
Eastern  conqueror,  but  he  penetrated  success- 
fully into  Egypt. 

These  were  great  achievements,  but  Nebu- 
chadrezzar himself  desired  to  be  best  remem- 
bered as  the  man  who  had  rebuilt  Babylon  on 
a  scale  of  magnificence  undreamed  of  in  former 
days.  Under  his  administration  the  city  grew 
in  commercial  importance,  and  all  lands,  even 
far-distant  Greece,  looked  toward  it  with  ad- 
miration or  envy.  In  Nebuchadrezzar  the  Chal- 
deans reached  the  summit  of  their  influence  in 
the  world.  A  man  of  blood  and  iron  he  was, 
but  a  man  who  reverenced  the  gods  beyond  all 
the  kings  who  had  ruled  before  him.  With  him, 
as  with  the  Babylonian  kings  for  many  centuries, 
the  chief  god  was  Marduk,  whom  the  king  calls 
'^the  preeminent,  the  honored,  the  leader  of  the 
gods,  the  Prince  Marduk."  To  him  he  prays  in 
words  of  great  beauty  and  impressiveness : 

0  eternal  prince!    Lord  of  all  being! 
To  the  king  whom  thou  lovest,  and 
Whose  name  thou  hast  proclaimed 
As  was  pleasing  to  thee, 

Do  thou  lead  aright  his  name, 
Guide  him  in  a  straight  path. 

1  am  the  prince,  thy  favorite, 


72        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

The  creature  of  thy  hand; 

Thou  hast  created  me,  and 

With  dominion  over  all  people 

Thou  hast  intrusted  me. 

According  to  thy  favor,  O  Lord, 

Which  thou  dost  bestow  on 

All  people, 

Cause  me  to  love  thy  exalted  lordship, 

And  create  in  my  heart 

The  worship  of  thy  divinity, 

And  grant  whatever  is  pleasing  to  thee, 

Because  thou  hast  fashioned  my  life.^ 

But  though  Marduk  seems  thus  to  be  exalted 
above  all  others,  nevertheless  Nebuchadrezzar 
has  an  extended  pantheon,  with  worship  and 
honors  for  Shamash  and  Adad  and  Ishtar  and 
many  another.  But  there  is  no  glory  of  war, 
and  no  god  to  fill  the  place  occupied  by  Ashur 
in  the  Assyrian  annals. 

After  the  death  of  Nebuchadrezzar  the  Chal- 
dean empire  began  to  go  rapidly  toward  its  end. 
The  next  king  was  Amel-Marduk  (Evil-mero- 
dach,  2  Kings  25.  27ff.),  who  met  his  death  in  a 
rebellion,  and  was  followed  by  the  two  brief 
reigns  of  Nergal-shar-usar  (Neriglissar,  Nergal- 
sharezer,  Jer.  39.  3,  13),  and  Labashi-Marduk. 
The  next  king  was  Nabu-na'id  (Nabonidus),  the 
last  Chaldean  king  (555-538  B.C.),  who  busied 
himself  chiefly  with  the  restoration  of  temples, 


1  Nebuchadrezzar,  East  India  House  Inscription,  col.  i,  55-col.  ii,  i. 
Compare  translation  into  German  by  Winckler,  Keilinschnftliche  Bib- 
liothek,  iii,  part  2,  p.  13. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        73 

and  displayed  the  keen  eagerness  of  an  archaeolo- 
gist to  ieam  the  names  and  dates  of  the  kings 
who  had  built  the  temples  in  the  beginning  or 
had  restored  them  in  the  days  before  him.  He 
was  without  military  skill  or  interest,  and  as  the 
armies  of  Cyrus  drew  steadily  southward  toward 
the  capital  he  was  in  retirement  at  Tema,  a 
suburb  of  Babylon,  while  the  ''son  of  the  king, 
the  nobles,  and  the  army  were  in  Akkad."^  In 
538  Babylon  opened  its  doors  to  Cyrus  without 
a  struggle,  and  the  kingdom  which  Hammurabi 
had  founded  ceased  forever.  Babylon  became 
the  chief  city  of  a  province  in  the  empire  which 
Cyrus  built  up  with  an  almost  incredible  swift- 
ness and  sureness  of  action.  With  the  passing 
of  Nabonidus  the  religion  of  the  Babylonians 
and  Assyrians  departed  from  among  the  vital 
religions  of  men.  The  gods  were  indeed  still 
venerated  for  a  time  by  the  living  men  who  had 
lost  their  sovereign  power,  but  not  even  Marduk 
had  the  vitality  to  outlive  the  fortunes  of  his 
people.  He  had  been  great  because  they  were 
great;  in  their  sad  plight  he  also  had  fallen  on 
evil  days. 

And  now  that  we  have  surveyed  the  history 
in  which  the  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria 
had  its  growth  and  development,  we  must  come 
to  a  closer  view  of  the  religion,  and  we  shall  do 
well  to  group  the  history  into  three  great  periods, 

^  Probably  under  the  leadership  of  Belshazzar.     See  Rogers,  History 
of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  ii,  375. 


74        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

as  Professor  Jastrow^  has  done.  I.  The  first  of 
these  periods  extends  from  the  earhest  times 
known  to  us  down  to  the  union  of  the  Baby- 
lonian states  under  Hammurabi  (about  2000 
B.C.).  II.  The  second  period  extends  to  the 
rise  of  the  Chaldean  empire  under  Nabopolassar 
(625  B.C.),  and  (III)  the  third  period  embraces 
the  brief  history  of  this  Chaldean  or  Neo- 
Babylonian  empire  to  the  fall  of  Babylon  under 
Cyrus  (538  B.C.).  The  Assyrian  religion  be- 
longs in  the  second  period,  though  it  extends 
even  into  the  third  period,  for  Nineveh  did  not 
fall  until  607  B.C. 

The  survey  which  is  intended  in  this  course 
of  lectures  is  divided  into  (a)  the  Pantheon, 
(b)  the  Cosmologies,  (c)  the  Sacred  Books,  and 
(d)  the  Myths  and  Epics.  The  division  is  prac- 
tical rather  than  scientific.  If  it  were  the  pur- 
pose in  these  lectures  to  view  the  religion  of 
the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  objectively,  to 
cast  up  the  balance  of  its  theology  and  to  view 
it  as  it  was  alone,  in  and  of  itself,  we  should  do 
better  to  adopt  Jastrow's  arrangement  and  di- 
vide our  discussion  into  (a)  Pantheon,  (b) 
Religious  Literature,  and  (c)  Cultus.  But  it  is 
the  aim  of  these  lectures  not  merely  to  see  what 
the  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria  was,  but 
to  view  it  with  especial  reference  to  its  relation 
to  the  religion  of  Israel  and  the  influence  of  its 


1  "The  Religion  of  Babylonia,"  Hastings's  Bible  Dictionary,   Extra 
Volume,  p.  536,  col.  2. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        75 

religious  literature  on  the  Old  Testament.  With 
this  end  in  view  it  is  fitting  to  shift  our  emphasis 
away  from  the  cultus,  which  had  a  lesser  in- 
fluence upon  Israel,  to  the  religious  hterature, 
which  touches  the  Old  Testament  at  so  many 
points,  and  may  well  occupy  three  lectures  and 
fall  into  the  subdivisions  of  (a)  the  Cosmologies, 
(b)  the  Sacred  Books,  and  (c)  the  Myths  and 
Epics. 

The  origin  of  the  Babylonian  religion  is  hid 
from  our  eyes  in  those  ancient  days  of  which 
we  know  little,  and  can  never  hope  to  know 
much.  When  we  attempt  to  go  behind  the 
written  documents  which  have  come  down  to 
us  from  the  early  Sumerian  kings  we  are  tread- 
ing in  dark  places,  and  may  easily  mistake  a 
bypath  for  the  open  road.  But  while  we  main- 
tain all  reserve  and  proceed  with  all  caution, 
not  deluding  ourselves  with  the  false  idea  of 
knowing  much,  perhaps  we  may  safely  say  that 
beneath  all  the  belief  in  gods  there  lies  deep 
down  in  the  Sumerian  consciousness  the  belief 
in  animism,^  and  that  herein  are  we  to  discern 
one  fundamental  fact  in  the  Babylonian  religion. 
It  was  the  belief  of  the  Sumerians,  and  of  the 
early  Babylonians,  who  were  influenced  by 
them,  that  every  object,  animate  or  inanimate, 
as  we  may  call  them,  had  a  zi,  or  spirit.  We 
translate  this  word  zi  ^'spirit,"  but  it  seems 


1  See  especially  on  Animism,  Jevons,  Introduction  to  the  History  of 
Religion,  p.  21£F. 


76        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

originally  to  have  meant  life.  But  life  mani- 
fests itself  to  us  as  motion.  Everything  which 
moves  has  life.  ''Life  was  the  only  force  known 
to  man  which  explained  motion,  and,  con- 
versely, motion  was  the  sign  and  manifestation 
of  life.  The  arrow  which  sped  through  the  air 
or  the  rock  which  fell  from  the  cliff  did  so  in 
virtue  of  their  possessing  life,  or  because  the 
motive  force  of  life  lay  in  some  way  or  other 
behind  them.  The  stars  which  slowly  moved 
through  the  sky,  and  the  sun  which  rose  and 
set  day  by  day,  were  living  beings;  it  was  life 
which  gave  them  the  power  of  movement,  as 
it  gave  the  power  of  movement  to  man  himself 
and  the  animals  by  whom  he  was  surrounded. 
The  power  of  movement,  in  fact,  separated  the 
animate  from  the  inanimate;  all  that  moved 
possessed  life;  the  motionless  was  lifeless  and 
dead."'  This  conception  of  the  zi,  or  spirit, 
endured  long  in  the  Babylonian  religion,  and 
was  only  gradually  replaced  by  higher  ideas. 

Besides  this  belief  in  animism  I  think  that 
we  can  see  among  the  earliest  peoples  in  Baby- 
lonia the  influence  of  a  belief  in  ghosts,  that 
were  related  to  the  world  of  the  dead,  as  the  zi 
was  related  to  the  world  of  the  living.  The  lit, 
or  ghost,  was  a  night  demon  of  terrible  and 
baleful  influence  upon  men,  and  only  to  be  cast 
out  with  many  incantations.  The  lil  was  at- 
tended by  a  serving  maid,  the  ardat  lili  (maid 

1  Sayce,  The  Religions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  p.  276. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        77 

of  night),  which  in  the  Semitic  development 
was  transferred  into  the  feminine  lilitu.  It  is 
most  curious  and  interesting  to  observe  that 
this  ghost-demon  Hved  on  through  all  the 
history  of  the  Babylonian  religion  and  was 
carried  over  into  the  Hebrew  religion,  there  to 
find  one  single  mention  in  the  words  of  one  of 
the  prophets/ 

The  origin  of  the  Babylonian  religion  is  to  be 
sought  neither  in  animism  nor  in  this  "ghost" 
idea.  It  goes  far  deeper.  In  the  very  earliest 
Sumerian  texts  the  gods  are  already  present 
and  worshiped.  As  Max  Miiller  has  said,  "We 
can  hear  in  all  reUgions  a  groaning  of  the  spirit, 
a  struggle  to  conceive  the  inconceivable,  to 
utter  the  unutterable,  a  longing  after  the 
infinite,  a  love  of  God."^  However  one  would 
like  to  discover  "the  thread  that  connects  the 
origin  of  thought  and  languages  with  the  origin 
of  mythology  and  religion,"  there  is  no  proba- 
bility that  it  will  leap  quickly  to  our  under- 
standing as  we  contemplate  the  dour  remains 
of  the  early  faith  of  southern  Babylonia. 

But  though  we  cannot  find  the  origin  we  do 
come  early  upon  a  real  religion  in  Babylonia. 
Contemporaneously  with   these   animistic   and 


'  Isa.  34.  14.  Heb.,  Lilith.  A.  V.  translates  erroneously  "screech 
owl";  the  R.  V.,  "night-monster." 

2  Max  Miiller,  Lectures  on  the  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion,  as  illus- 
trated by  the  Religions  of  India,  p.  23.  London,  1880.  Quoted,  with 
illuminative  comment,  by  Jastrow,  The  Study  of  Religion,  p.  163.  Lon- 
don. 1901. 


78        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

ghostly  ideas  we  find  numbers  of  local  gods. 
Every  center  of  human  habitation  had  its  special 
patron  deity,  and  this  deity  is  always  associated 
with  some  great  natural  phenomenon.  It  was 
most  natural  that  the  sun  and  moon  should 
stand  first  and  foremost  among  these  gods,  but 
by  the  side  of  these  other  natural  objects  or 
forces  were  personified  and  deified — streams, 
stones,  and  many  others. 

Our  chief  source  of  information  concerning 
the  gods  of  the  first  period  of  religious  develop- 
ment before  the  days  of  Hammurabi  (2000 
B.C.)  is  the  historic  inscriptions  of  the  early 
kings  and  rulers.  Many  of  these  describe  votive 
offerings  of  temples  and  treasures  made  to  the 
gods,  and  all  of  them  are  religious  in  tone  and 
filled  with  ascription  of  praise  to  the  gods. 
From  these  early  texts  Professor  Jastrow*  has 
extracted  the  names  of  the  following  deities, 
gods  and  goddessess.  I  reproduce  his  list  as  the 
best  yet  made,  but  keep  in  mind  that  some  of 
the  readings  are  doubtful  and  some  were  cer- 
tainly otherwise  read  by  the  Babylonians  or 
Sumerians,  though  we  do  not  now  know  how 
they  ought  to  be  read.  The  progress  of  the 
Assyrian  research  is  continually  providing  cor- 
rected readings  for  words  hitherto  known  to 
us  only  in  ideograms.  It  is  quite  to  be  ex- 
pected that  many  of  these  strange,  not  to  say 

1  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Die  Religion  Bahyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  pp. 
51,  52.    Leipzig,  1902 — . 


FIGURE  II.— LIST  OF  NAMES  AND  TITLES  OF  GODS 

British  Museum,  4332 

Size  of  the  original,  8J  by  41  inches 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        79 

grotesque,  names  will  some  day  prove  to  be 
quite  simple,  and  easy  to  utter:  En-lil  (El-lil, 
Bel)  Belit,  Nin-khar-sag,  Nin-gir-su,  who  also  ap- 
pears as  Dun-gur,  Bau,  Ga-tum-dug,  Nin-din- 
dug,  Ea,  Nin-a-gal,  Gal-dim-zu-ab,  Nin-ki,  Dam- 
gal-nun-na,  Nergal,  Shamash,  A  or  Malkatu,  the 
wife  of  Shamash,  Nannar  or  Sin,  Nin-Urum, 
Innanna,  Nana,  Anunit,  Nina,  Ishtar,  Anu, 
Nin-dar-a,  Gal-alim,  Nin-shakh,  Dun-shagga, 
Lugal-banda,  with  a  consort  Nin-sun,  Dumu-zi- 
zu-ab,  Dumu-zi,  Lugal-Erim,  Nin-e-gal  and  Nin- 
gal,  Nin-gish-zi-da,  Dun-pa-uddu,  Nin-mar,  Pa- 
sag,  Nidaba,  Ku(?)-anna,  Shid,  Nin-agid-kha- 
du,  Nin-shul-li,  En-gubarra,  Im-mi-khu(?),  Ur- 
du-zi,  Kadi,  Nu-ku-sir-da,  Ma-ma,  Za-ma-ma, 
Za-za-ru,  Im-pa-ud-du,  Ur-e-nun-ta-ud-du-a, 
Khi-gir-nunna,  Khi-shagga,  Gur-mu,  Zar-mu, 
Dagan,  Damu,  Lama,  Nesu,  Nun-gal,  An-makh, 
Nin-si-na,  Nin-asu.  In  this  list  great  gods,  and 
goddesses,  and  all  kinds  of  minor  deities  are 
gathered  together,  and  the  list  looks  and  sounds 
hopeless.  But  these  are  local  deities,  and  some 
of  them  are  mere  duplications.  Nearly  every 
place  in  early  times  would  have  a  sun  god  or  a 
moon  god  or  both,  and  in  the  political  develop- 
ment of  the  country  the  moon  god  of  the  con- 
quering city  displaced  or  absorbed  the  moon 
god  of  the  conquered.  When  we  have  eliminated 
these  gods,  who  have  practically  disappeared, 
there  remains  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
gods  who  outrank  all  the  others. 


80        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

In  the  earliest  times  known  to  us  the  greatest 
of  the  gods  is  the  god  of  Nippur,  whose  name  in 
the  Sumerian  texts  is  En-hl,  or  Elhl/  In  the 
Semitic  pantheon  he  was  identified  with  the  god 
Bel,  and  it  is  as  Bel  that  he  has  chiefly  been 
known  to  later  times.  He  is  the  ''lord  of  the 
underworld"  in  the  very  earliest  inscriptions. 
In  the  very  ancient  text  of  En-shag-kush-an-na 
he  is  a  powerful  god  who  gave  victory  to  the 
king,  and  therefore  received  from  the  king  a 
dedication  of  the  spoil.  In  Nippur  was  his  chief 
temple,  called  E-kur,  or  mountain  house.  It 
was  built  and  rebuilt  by  the  kings  of  Babylonia 
again  and  again  from  the  days  of  Sargon  I 
(3800  B.C.)  onward,  and  no  less  than  twenty 
kings  are  known  to  us  from  his  days  all  the  way 
down  the  centuries  to  Ashurbanipal  who  prided 
themselves  on  their  work  of  rebuilding  this  one 
temple.  Far  beyond  Nippur  his  power  ex- 
tended; the  kings  of  Kish  brought  offerings  to 
him;  he  is  saluted  as  Bel,  that  is  lord,  ''the  great 
lord  the  command  of  whose  mouth  cannot  be 
altered  and  whose  grace  is  steadfast."  When 
Babylon  came  to  be  the  chief  city  of  Babylonia, 
and  so  its  local  god,  Marduk,  rose  in  estimation, 
the  honors  of  En-lil  were  gradually  transferred 
to  him.  He  was  called  Bel-Marduk,  and  in  still 
later  times  the  name  Bel  even  began  to  supplant 
Marduk  and  the  god  of  Babylon  was  called 


'  See  A.  T.  Clay,   "Ellil,  the  God  of  Nippur,"  American  Journal  of 
Semitic  Languages  and  Literatures,  vol.  xxiii,  No.  4,  July,  1907. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        81 

simply  Bel.  To  Marduk  was  also  ascribed  the 
honor  and  title  of  creator  of  the  world,  which 
had  originally  belonged  to  En-Ul. 

By  the  side  of  En-lil  in  the  early  days  there 
was  ranged  a  consort,  Nin-lil,  the  queen 
of  the  lower  world,  and  when  En-lil  was 
identified  with  Bel  she  became  Belit.  She  is 
also  called  Nin-khar-sag,  "queen  of  the  great 
mountain." 

The  god  who  ranks  next  in  importance  to 
En-lil  in  early  Babylonia  is  Ea,^  originally  the 
local  god  of  Eridu.  His  Sumerian  name  is 
En-ki,  the  god  of  the  watery  world,  both  of  the 
waters  on  the  earth  and  of  the  waters  beneath 
the  earth.  His  temple  in  Eridu  was  called 
E-apsu,  ''house  of  the  ocean,"  and  the  temple 
and  the  god  alike  lead  our  thoughts  back  to 
those  ancient  days  when  the  city  of  Eridu  was 
located  on  the  waters  of  the  Persian  Gulf, 
and  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  poured  their 
waters  through  separate  estuaries  into  the  salt 
sea.  Berosus  handed  on  to  the  Greeks  the  tra- 
dition that  the  water  deity  Cannes,  who  ap- 
parently personified  the  Persian  Gulf,  had 
brought  the  beginnings  of  culture  to  mankind. 
This  Cannes  is  none  other  than  Ea,  who  is  con- 
tinually called  the  "lord  of  wisdom,"  and  who 
was  appealed  to  more  than  any  other  god  in 
the  incantation  tablets  down  to  very  late  times. 

*  It  is  probable  that  the  name  ought  to  be  read  Ae,  instead  of  Ea.  At 
any  rate,  so  the  Greeks  seem  to  have  transUterated  it  ('-^oc,  Damascius). 


82        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

When  other  gods  failed  he  was  addressed  in 
confident  hope. 

In  the  case  of  Ea,  as  in  that  of  Ellil,  when 
Babylon  became  the  world  city  the  powers  and 
prerogatives  of  Ea  were  transferred  to  Marduk, 
and  the  process  in  this  case  is  particularly  in- 
teresting. Marduk  is  made  the  son  of  Ea  by 
a  piece  of  theological  speculation,  and  Ea  is 
made  to  rejoice  in  Marduk's  honors  and  in  his 
elevation  to  the  head  of  the  pantheon.  Ea  had 
been  called  the  creator  of  men,  but  this  is  also 
given  over  to  Marduk,  and  when  we  come  to 
read  the  story  of  the  flood  in  its  ordinary 
Assyrian  version  we  shall  see  how  the  idea  of 
the  creation  of  man  by  Marduk  was  wrought 
into  that  ancient  story. 

Associated  with  Ellil  and  Ea  Babylonia  early 
reverenced  a  god  Anu,  whose  local  worship  is 
associated  with  Erech  in  the  south  and  with 
Durilu,  that  is,  Der,  in  the  north.  Lugal- 
zaggisi  was  a  ''priest  of  Ana,"  and  so  we  may 
properly  regard  Ana  as  a  Sumerian  god,  but  he 
is  known  to  us  chiefly  through  the  Semites,  who 
called  him  Anu,  the  god  of  the  heaven,  or  the 
sky. 

And  now  theological  speculation  even  before 
the  days  of  Hammurabi  made  these  three  gods 
into  a  triad,  Anu,  the  god  of  heaven,  and  Ellil,  or 
Bel,  the  god  of  earth  and  air  above  the  earth,  and 
Ea,  the  god  of  water  on  the  earth  and  beneath  the 
earth.  Down  through  the  centuries  these  gods  are 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        83 

continually  invoked  together.  Behind  these  in 
very  ancient  times,  as  the  later  creation  story 
shows  us,  there  was  a  duad,  Anshar,  the  god  of 
the  upper  all,  and  Kishar,  the  goddess  of  the 
lower  all,  and  beside  these  another  duad,  Lahmu, 
Lahamu.  But  these  disappeared  out  of  later 
theological  thinking,  save  that  from  Anshar 
came  the  name  of  Ashur,'  the  god  of  the  Assyr- 
ians, who  looms  so  large  in  the  history  which 
has  already  passed  in  review  before  us. 

By  the  side  of  these  gods  stood  goddesses, 
with  Anu,  his  wife  Antum,  or  Antu,  by  the  side 
of  Bel  the  goddess  Belit,  and  by  the  side  of  Ea 
his  wife  Damkina,  but  the  role  of  these  is  not 
great,  and  we  may  perhaps  think  of  them 
chiefly  as  the  result  of  a  grammatical  necessity 
in  the  Semitic  mind,  which  must  always  asso- 
ciate a  feminine  with  a  masculine. 

And  now  we  must  turn  from  the  triad  Anu, 
Bel,  and  Ea  to  see  how  another  triad  was  built 
up  by  the  side  of  the  first.  And  the  god  to 
whom  we  must  first  give  heed  is  Sin.  We  do 
not  know  what  was  the  origin  of  the  word  Sin, 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  god's  place  in 
the  pantheon.     Sin  is  the  moon  god,  and  the 


1  Professor  Sayce  has  a  different  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  divine 
name  Ashur,  as  the  following  indicates:  "The  supreme  god  of  Assyria 
was  Assur;  the  other  gods  were  of  Babylonian  origin.  And  in  the  name 
of  Assur  we  have  the  name  of  the  country  itself  and  its  primitive  capital. 
Assur,  in  short,  was  the  deified  city  of  Assur,  the  divine  state  which 
from  the  days  of  its  successful  revolt  from  Babylonia  was  predominantly 
military,  with  all  the  union  and  discipline  of  a  military  organization." — 
The  Relicfions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  p.  366. 


84        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

moon  god  had  his  local  habitation  in  southern 
Babylonia  at  Ur,  and  in  northern  Babylonia  at 
Harran.  In  early  times  the  god  is  called  Nannar, 
which  signifies  ''the  one  who  gives  light,"  but 
whether  this  is  a  name  or  an  appelative  is  not 
quite  certain,  and  it  may  be  that  the  word 
Nannar  ought  really  to  be  read  Ur^ — so  making 
the  name  of  the  god  and  his  chief  city  the  same. 
No  god  much  excels  the  god  Sin  in  the  honors 
given  him  in  early  times,  and  this  was  most 
natural,  for  the  moon  plays  a  great  role  in  the 
life  of  the  nomadic  peoples,  especially  those  of 
Arabia,  who  travel  and  indeed  perform  many 
functions  of  life  largely  at  night  because  of  the 
heat  of  the  day. 

As  men  advanced  to  the  agricultural  stage  the 
sun  outstripped  the  moon  in  importance,  and  so 
the  sun  gods  of  many  different  places  began  to 
rank  close  to  or  above  the  moon  god.  The  chief 
of  the  solar  deities  was  Shamash,  who  was 
worshiped  in  the  south  at  Larsa  and  in  the  north 
at  Sippar.  His  Sumerian  name  was  Utu.  But 
there  were  other  sun  gods,  Nin-girsu  of  Shir- 
purla,  and  Nergal  of  Cutha,  nay,  even  Marduk 
of  Babylon  was  originally  a  solar  deity.  Sha- 
mash is  regarded  as  the  god  of  healing,  and  is 
constantly  appealed  to  in  incantation  texts 
down  to  a  very  late  date.  To  him  also  were 
addressed  hymns  of  such  surpassing  nobleness 


1  It  is  written  with  the  same  ideogram  as  the  name  of  the  city. 


THE  SUN  GOD  (SHAMASH)   OF  SIPPAR 
British  Museum 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        85 

of  phrase  and  depth  of  feehng  as  to  surpass 
all  others. 

To  Sin  and  Shamash  there  was  joined  to  the 
forming  of  a  triad  the  great  goddess  Ishtar. 
She  is  called  at  times  the  daughter  of  Anu,  and 
again  the  daughter  of  Bel  or  of  Sin.  She  is  the 
goddess  par  excellence.  Other  female  deities  are 
no  more  than  pale  reflections  of  the  male  deity 
whose  wives  they  were  accounted,  but  Ishtar 
is  able  to  stand  quite  alone.  She  is  the  great 
mother-goddess.  She  is  the  "queen  of  the 
heavens  and  of  the  stars."  She  is  the  planet 
Venus,  and  so  is  naturally  grouped  with  the 
moon  and  the  sun  into  a  triad.  She  is  also  the 
goddess  of  life  and  of  vegetation,  and  absorbed 
into  herself  all  the  other  goddesses  whose  at- 
tributes were  similar  to  hers.  Even  so  early  as 
the  period  of  Hammurabi  she  is  also  become  the 
"queen  of  battle  and  war,"  and  in  this  role  she 
fits  directly  into  the  Assyrian  consciousness  and 
is  placed  side  by  side  with  Ashur,  not  as  a  pale 
reflection,  as  a  wife  or  consort,  but  as  a  real 
deity  of  tremendous  importance. 

In  this  second  triad  Ishtar  is  often  replaced 
by  the  god  Adad,  called  also  by  the  Assyrians 
Ramman.  He  is  the  god  of  rain  and  of  storms, 
and  hence  also  of  the  mountains,  among  which 
the  storms  are  gathered  and  the  thunder  is 
heard  to  roll.  Adad  has  no  local  abiding  place 
in  Babylonia,  and  there  seems  but  little  doubt 
that  he  was  introduced  among  the  Semites  of 


86        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Babylonia  from  the  Semites  of  Syria.  He  has 
a  consort,  Shala/  who  plays  no  independent 
part. 

I  have  already  shown  how  the  god  of  Baby- 
lon, Marduk,  rose  to  the  highest  place  in  the 
pantheon  solely  through  the  political  growth  of 
Babylon.  His  temple  in  Babylon,  called 
E-sagila,  that  is,  ''the  lofty  house,"  became 
the  chief  sanctuary  of  the  country.  When  we 
come  to  discuss  the  splendid  creation  story 
we  shall  see  vividly  how  effectively  the  litera- 
ture that  once  had  honored  other  gods  was 
rewritten  to  set  Marduk  above  all  others. 

Borsippa  in  later  days  is  a  suburb  of  Babylon, 
but  it  was  an  older  city  than  Babylon,  and  its 
god  Nabu,  or  Nebo,  as  the  Old  Testament  calls 
him,  was  an  older  and  originally  a  more  im- 
portant god  than  Marduk.  He  was  manifested 
in  the  planet  Mercury.  He  was  originally,  like 
Ea,  a  water  deity,  and  to  him  are  ascribed  many 
of  the  attributes  which  distinguish  Ea.  He  is 
said  to  have  taught  mankind  writing,  and  the 
priests  of  Babylon  even  mention  his  name  be- 
fore Marduk' s  in  their  astronomical  reports.  In 
the  late  period,  when  the  art  of  writing  filled  so 
large  a  place  in  royal  and  popular  estimation 
in  Assyria,  Nabu  is  even  more  highly  esteemed 
there  than  in  Babylonia. 

The  god  of  Cutha  was  Nergal.  As  I  have 
already  stated,  he  was  in  origin  a  solar  deity, 

1  Sala — "wife"  in  Mitannian  (Sayce). 


w^ 


STATUE  OF  THE  GOD  NABU 
British  Museum 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        87 

but  his  planet  was  Saturn,  and  he  is  the  god  of 
fever  and  pestilence.  With  him  there  is  con- 
stantly confused  the  god  Ninib,  whose  planet 
is  Mars,  who  is  the  god  of  war.  These  two  gods, 
Nergal  and  Ninib,  hke  Ishtar,  find  even  greater 
honor  among  the  Assyrians  than  among  their 
own  people,  the  Babylonians. 

We  have  now  surveyed  all  the  chief  divinities 
of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians,  and  we  have 
passed  in  a  sort  of  hasty  review  the  names  of 
many  other  minor  deities.  Some  of  them  are 
known  to  us  only  in  proper  names,  others  find 
the  merest  piassing  mention  in  the  boastful 
words  of  some  king.  We  have  also  seen  how 
the  gods  rose  higher  as  their  worshipers  in- 
creased in  power,  and  how  they  sUpped  away 
into  weakness  and  dishonor  as  their  worshipers 
sank  down  in  rank  among  other  cities  and  peo- 
ples. We  have  seen  also  how  gods  passed  from 
west  to  east  and  from  east  to  west,  and  how 
they  absorbed  gods  of  minor  places  within 
themselves.  We  can  see  also  how  strong  a 
tendency  there  was  to  diminish  the  number  of 
the  gods.  They  are  in  early  days  mentioned 
by  the  score,  but  as  time  goes  on  many  of  these 
vanish  away  and  only  the  few  remain.  As 
Jastrow^  has  pointed  out,  Shalmaneser  II  (859- 
825  B.C.)  had  only  eleven  gods  in  his  pantheon: 
Ashur,  Anu,  Bel,  Ea,  Sin,  Shamash,  Ninib, 
Nergal,  Nusku,  Belit,  and  Ishtar.    Sennacherib 

1  Jastrow,  Die  Religion  Babyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  pp.  246,  247. 


88        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

(705-681)  usually  mentions  only  eight,  namely, 
Ashur,  Sin,  Shamash,  Bel  (that  is,  Marduk), 
Nabu,  Nergal,  Ishtar  of  Nineveh,  and  Ishtar 
of  Arbela.  But  we  must  not  lay  much  emphasis 
upon  the  smallness  of  this  number,  for  in  his 
building  inscription  at  the  end  he  invokes 
twenty-five  deities,  and  even  though  some  of 
these  are  duplicates  of  other  gods,  as  Jastrow 
correctly  explains,  nevertheless  the  entire  list  is 
considerably  increased  over  the  eight  above 
mentioned.  In  the  late  Babylonian  period  the 
worship  seems  chiefly  devoted  to  Marduk,  Nabu, 
Sin,  Shamash,  and  Ishtar.  Often  there  seem 
little  faint  indications  of  a  further  step  forward. 
Some  of  the  hymns  addressed  to  Shamash  seem 
almost  upon  the  verge  of  exalting  him  in  such 
a  way  as  to  exclude  the  other  deities,  but  the 
step  is  never  taken.  The  Babylonians,  with  all 
their  wonderful  gifts,  were  never  able  to  con- 
ceive of  one  god,  of  one  god  alone,  of  one  god 
whose  very  existence  makes  logically  impossible 
the  existence  of  any  other  deity.  Monotheism 
transcends  the  spiritual  grasp  of  the  Babylonian 
mind. 

Amid  all  this  company  of  gods,  amid  all 
these  speculations  and  combinations,  we  must 
keep  our  minds  clear,  and  fasten  our  eyes  upon 
the  one  significant  fact  that  stands  out  above 
all  others.  It  is  that  the  Babylonians  were  not 
able  to  rise  above  polytheism;  that  beyond 
them,  far  beyond  them,  lay  that  great  series  of 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        89 

thoughts  about  God  that  ascribe  to  him  alone- 
ness,  to  which  we  may  add  the  great  spiritual 
ideas  which  to-day  may  be  roughly  grouped 
under  Ethical  Monotheism.  Here  and  there 
great  thinkers  in  Babylonia  grasped  after  higher 
ideas,  and  were  able  only  to  attain  to  a  sort  of 
pantheism  of  a  speculative  kind.  A  personal  god, 
righteous  and  holy,  who  loved  righteousness  and 
hated  sin,  this  was  not  given  to  them  to  conceive. 

But  to  the  poor  little  Hebrew  folk  who  once 
were  slaves  in  Egypt,  to  them  did  these  great 
thoughts  come,  and  to  them  came  the  amazing 
power  so  to  state  them  in  history  as  to  give 
mankind  once  and  for  all  a  conception  of  God 
of  such  power  that  the  men  who  seize  it  begin 
at  once  a  transformation  of  life  of  surpassing 
grandeur  and  importance.  Wherein  the  Baby- 
lonian religion  fell  short,  therein  the  Hebrew 
rose  to  conquer. 

The  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  gods,  from  Anu, 
Bel,  and  Ea  on  down  through  the  long  list, 
have  passed  away  from  among  men,  and  no- 
where in  all  the  world  do  men  revere  these 
names.  But  there  was  one  divine  name  in 
Babylonia  which  has  survived  the  crash  of 
time,  and  as  the  climax  of  all  this  study  of  the 
names  of  the  gods  we  must  give  due  heed  to  it. 

In  August,  1898,  Professor  Sayce^  made  the 


1  Expository  Times,  ix,  p.  522.  The  name  was  quoted  from  the  tablet 
Bu.  88-5-12,  329,  published  in  Cuneiform  Texts  from  Babylonian  Tablets, 
iv,  27. 


90        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

most  interesting  announcement  that  he  had 
just  discovered  upon  a  small  Babylonian  text 
in  the  British  Museum  the  name  Ja-u-um-ilu, 
which  he  translated  "  Yahveh  is  god."  The  pub- 
lication of  this  announcement  called  forth  at 
once  a  note  from  Professor  HommeP  suggesting 
the  appearance  of  the  same  Yau  in  another 
Babylonian  name.  The  discovery  of  Professor 
Sayce  seemed  long  to  lie  comparatively  fallow. 
It  excited  interest  only  among  scholars,  and 
produced  very  little  popular  stir.  But  upon 
January  13,  1902,  Professor  Friedrich  Delitzsch, 
of  the  University  of  Berlin,  eminent  alike  as  a 
scholar,  a  teacher,  and  the  founder  of  the  great- 
est school  of  Assyriologists  in  the  world,  de- 
livered a  lecture  in  the  Sing  Academie  in  Berlin 
in  the  presence  of  the  German  emperor.  The 
lecture  was  a  brilliant  exposition  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  Assyriology  in  casting  a  valuable  light 
upon  the  Old  Testament.  Much  of  what  he  said 
awakened  no  controversy.  It  was,  indeed,  in 
large  part  known  already,  and  the  interest  lay 
chiefly  in  the  skill  of  its  exposition  by  a  master, 
who  had  himself  made  contributions  of  enduring 
quality  to  the  science.  But  as  the  lecture  went 
on  Professor  Delitzsch  spoke  of  the  supposed 
occurrence  of  monotheism  in  Babylonia,  and 
there  entered  upon  a  most  disputed  realm.  Then 
he  said:  "But,  further,  through  the  kindness  of 
the  head  of  the  department  of  Assyrian  and 

1  Expository  Times,  x,  p.  42,  Oct.,  1898. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 


91 


Egyptian  antiquities  at  the  British  Museum,  I 
am  able  to  give  a  representation  of  three  small 
clay  tablets  (see  below).  What  is  to  be  seen 
on  these  tablets?  I  shall  be  asked.  Fragile, 
broken  clay  upon  which  are  scratched  characters 
scarcely  legible!     That  is  true,   no  doubt,  yet 

they  are 
precious 
for  this 
reason  : 
they  can 
be  dated 
with  cer- 
tainty, 
they  Ije- 
long    to 

the  age  of  Hammurabi,  one  in  particular 
to  the  reign  of  his  father,  Sin-muballit.      But 

they  are  still  more  pre- 
cious for  another  reason: 
they  contain  three  names 
which,  from  the  point  of 
^  ^^  view  of  the  history  of  re- 
^  y~  ligion,  are  of  the  most 
far-reaching  importance : 
The  names  are  Yahwe  is  God.  Therefore  Yahwe, 
the  Existing,  the  Enduring  one  (we  have  reasons 
for  saying  that  the  name  may  mean  this),  the 
one  devoid  of  all  change,  not  like  us  men,  who 
to-morrow  are  but  a  thing  of  yesterday,  Ixit  one 
who,  above  the  starry  vault  which  shines  with 


/a- 


la- 


THKEE  TABLETS  WITH  THE  NAME  OF  .lAHWEH 


d  -        ve-     ilu 
ve-       ilu 


4t 


"AT 


la-        ii-      um-    ilu 


92         RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

everlasting  regularity,  lives  and  works  from 
generation  to  generation — this  'Yahwe'  was  the 
spiritual  possession  of  those  same  nomad  tribes 
out  of  which  after  a  thousand  years  the  children 
of  Israel  were  to  emerge."* 

These  words  led  to  a  controversy,  widespread, 
intense,  and  sometimes  conducted  in  very  bad 
temper.  All  sorts  of  controversialists^  entered 
the  field  essaying  to  prove  that  Delitzsch  had 
either  misread  or  misinterpreted  his  texts.  The 
matter  has  finally  sifted  down  to  very  narrow 
limits  of  doubt  indeed.    There  can  be  no  doubt 


1  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  Babel  und  Bibel,  Erster  Vortrag  Funfte  neu 
durchgesehene  Ausgabe,  pp.  49,  50.  Leipzig,  1905.  See  the  translation 
of  this  paragraph  by  C.  H.  W.  Johns,  Babel  and  Bible,  pp.  70-72.  Two 
Lectures.     London  and  New  York,  1903. 

2  There  is  no  need  to  enumerate  here  the  extensive  list  of  replies  to 
Delitzsch.  The  following  maj'  be  cited  as  being  among  the  more  sig- 
nificant: 

Eduard   Konig,    Bibel   und   Babel,   Eine  kidturgeschichtliche  Skizze,   6te 

Auf.     Berlin,  1902. 
Karl  Budde,  Das  Alte  Testament  und  die  Ausgrabungen.     Giessen,  1903. 
Karl  Budde,  Was  soil  die  Gemeinde  aus  dem  Streit  iim  Babel  und  Bibel 

lernen?     Leipzig,  1903. 
Fritz  Hommel,  Die  altorientalischen  Denkmaler  und  das  Alte  Testament. 

Eine  Erunderung  ax(j  Prof.  Fr.  Delitzsch' s  Babel  und  Bibel.     Berlin, 

1902. 
Alfred  Jeremias,  Im  Kampfe  um  Babel  und  Bibel.     Ein  wort  zur  Ver- 

standigung  und  Abioehr,  3te  Auf.     Leipzig,  1903. 
Samuel  Oettli,  Der  Kampf  um  Bibel  und  Babel.       Ein  religionsgeschict- 

licher  Vortrag. 
Heinrich  Zimmern,  Keilinschriften  und  Bibel.     Berlin,  1903. 
C.   F.   Lehmann,   Babyloniens  Kulturmission  einst  und  jetzt.      Leipzig, 

1903. 
C.  Bezold,  Die  Babylonisch-assyrischen  Keilinschriften  und  ihre  Bedeu- 

tung  filr  das  Alte  Testament.  Tubingen  und  Leipzig,  1904. 
Max  Lohr,  Babel  und  die  biblische  Urgeschichte.  Breslau,  1903. 
Paul  Haupt,  Bible  and  Babel,  Johns  Hopkins  University  Qrculars,  No. 

163,  pp.  47-51.     Baltimore,  1903. 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        93 

that  Ja-u-um-ilu  is  to  be  read  ''Jau  is  god";  it 
is  exactly  the  equivalent  of  the  biblical  name 
Joel.  It  may  still  be  granted  that  a  slight 
doubt  exists  about  the  first  two  of  these  names. 
It  has  been  attempted  on  several  sides  to  show 
that  the  first  half  of  these  names  may  be  a  verb 
form/  and  the  words  therefore  are  interpreted 
as  meaning  ''God  exists,"  or  ''God  lives."  But 
there  is  no  such  personal  name  anywhere 
to  be  found  among  the  northern  Semites, 
and  the  explanation  is  without  other  support. 
By  far  the  more  natural  explanation  is  that 
the  name  is  to  be  interpreted  as  "Jahweh  is 
god." 

Here,  then,  is  the  name  Jahweh  in  use  among 
the  Babylonians,  at  the  Hammurabi  period,  two 
thousand  years  before  Christ. 

But  still  further  support  for  the  Babylonian 
use  of  the  name  has  been  provided  by  the  dis- 
coveries of  Dr.  Clay  in  the  Kassite  period,  about 
1500  B.C.  He  has  found  the  names  Ja-u-bani, 
Ja-u-a,  Ja-a-u,  Ja-ai-u,  and  even  the  feminine 
form  Ja-a-u-tum.  Ja-u-bani  means  "Jau  is 
creator,"  and  is  formed  exactly  as  Ilu-bani 
(Ilu  is  creator)  and  Shamash-bani  (Shamash  is 
creator).  Here,  then,  is  positive  proof  that  the 
Babylonians  were  accustomed  to  the  use  of  the 


1  The  attempt  to  show  that  the  reading  is  incorrect  and  that  the  first 
two  should  be  read  Ya-'  a-bi-lu  (so,  for  example,  by  Bezold  in  a  very 
interesting  note,  Zeitschrift  fur  Assyriologie,  x\'i,  pp.  415ff.)  must  be 
regarded  as  a  failure.  The  reading  is  certain,  the  only  possible  doubt 
concerns  the  interpretation. 


94        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

divine  name  Jau,  or  Jahweh,  during  the  period 
from  2000  B.C.  to  1400  B.C.^ 

Outside  of  Babylonia  the  divine  name  Jahweh 
has  also  been  found.  Upon  a  letter  discovered 
at  Ta^anek,  above  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and 
written  about  1450  B.C.,  there  occurs  the  name 
Akhi-ja-mi,^  and  this  name  seems  to  be  the 
equivalent  of  the  Old  Testament  name  Ahijah 
(1  Kings  14.  4)  {Jehovah  is  brother,  or  relative), 
which  is  thus  borne  by  a  non-Israelite.  But 
the  name  Jahweh  appears  also  as  a  part  of 
the  name  of  a  king  of  Hamath,  the  north  Syr- 
ian commonwealth,  in  the  eighth  century  B.C. 
This  king,  who  was  conquered  by  Sargon  II, 
king  of  Assyria  (722-705  B.C.),  bears  the 
name  Ja-u-bi-'-di,  and  his  name  is  also  written 


1  A  name  Lipush-e-a-um  occurs  as  the  name  of  a  daughter  of  Naram- 
Sin  and  granddaughter  of  Sargon  I,  a  priestess  of  Sin  (Thureau-Dangin, 
Comptes  Rendus,  Academie  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles  Lettres,  1899,  p. 
348,  pi.  1).  This  has  been  taken  by  Radau  {Early  Babylonian  History, 
p.  173)  as  also  containing  the  name  Jau,  and  so  as  having  some  such 
meaning  as  "May  Jau  make."  This  also  has  been  accepted  by  Dr. 
C.  F.  Burney  in  a  most  suggestive  paper  ("A  Theory  of  the  Develop- 
ment of  Israelite  Religion  in  Early  Times,"  Journal  of  Theological 
Studies,  April,  1908,  p.  342).  The  reading  is  most  doubtful,  and  should 
not  be  cited  as  an  occurrence  of  Jau.  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  the 
god  here  meant  is  Ea. 

2  The  letter  is  published  by  Hrozny  in  Sellin,  Tell  Ta'annek,  p.  116. 
Wien,  1904.  See  further  a  very  cautious  allusion  to  the  name  in  SeUin, 
Die  alttestamentliche  Religion  im  Rahmen  der  andern  altorientalischen, 
p.  61.  Leipzig,  1908.  In  this  little  book  it  seems  to  me  that  Sellin 
might  have  safely  spoken  more  positively  of  the  occurrence  of  Jahweh 
in  Babylonian;  for  example,  in  the  following  sentences  the  caution  is 
surely  excessive:  "1st  der  Name  Jahwe  ein  spezifisches  israelitisches 
Eigenthum?  Diese  Behauptung  liisst  sich  kaum  noch  mit  Sicherheit 
aufrecht  halten.  Zwar  das  Vorkommen  des  Namens  auf  kananaischen 
Keilschrifttafeln  siwohl  aus  Babylon  (um  2000)  wie  aus  Palastina  (Ta- 
'anak  um  1450)  ist  sehr  unsicher"  (p.  61). 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        95 

I-lu-bi-'-di/  Here  there  is  an  interchange  be- 
tween Ilu  and  Jau  exactly  as  in  Hebrew  the 
name  Elnathan  interchanges  with  Jonathan. 

There  can  therefore  be  no  escape  from  the 
conclusion  that  the  divine  name  Jahweh  is  not 
a  peculiar  possession  of  the  Hebrews.  It  covers 
a  large  extent  of  territory  both  geographical^ 
and  ethnologically,^  and  the  rapid  accumulation 
of  cases  in  which  it  appears  during  so  few  years 
makes  reasonably  probable  a  still  wider  use  of 
the  name  than  has  yet  been  actually  proved.^ 

How  came  this  name  into  the  hands  of  the 
Hebrews?  That  is  a  question  most  fascinating 
and  interesting,  but  it  is  impossible  to  answer 
it  with  certainty.  The  Jahvist  uses  the  name 
Jahweh  from  the  beginning,  and  regards  it  as 
known  and  revered  by  the  saints  and  heroes  far 
beyond  the  days  of  Moses,  but  the  Elohist 
(Exod.  3.  13ff.)  and  the  Priest  Codex  (Exod.  6. 


1  Inscriptions  of  Sargon,  Stele  i,  53;  Annals,  23;  Triumphal  In- 
scription, 33;  Nimroud  Inscription,  8.  The  passages  may  readily  be 
found  in  Winckler,  Die  Keilschrifttexte  Sargons.     Leipzig,  1889. 

2 1  cannot  regard  as  successful  the  attempt  of  Dr.  C.  J.  Ball  to  find 
the  word  Jau  in  the  Gilgamesh  epic  as  a  divine  name  or  title,  "a  god- 
man."  (See  the  exposition  of  this  explanation  by  C.  F.  Bumey  in  the 
article  cited,  Journal  of  Theological  Studies,  April,  1908,  pp.  341,  342.) 
The  expression  in  question  is  ia-u  amelu  (Tablet  x,  col.  iv,  17),  applied 
to  Gilgames.  The  translation  of  ia-u  proposed  by  Jensen,  namely, 
"woeful,"  is  still  the  most  probable.  Elsewhere  Gilgames  is  described 
as  showing  plainly  the  effects  of  his  great  efforts  and  struggles. 

'  For  summaries  of  the  evidence  and  appraisal  of  the  value  of  the  in- 
dividual occurrences  see  A.  H.  Sayce,  "The  Name  of  Jeho,  Jahveh," 
Expo.fitory  Times,  vol.  xviii,  No.  1,  Oct.,  1906,  pp.  26ff.,  and  A.  H. 
Sayce,  "The  Name  !mtT',"  Expositorrj  Times,  vol.  xix.  No.  11,  Aug., 
1908,  pp.  525,  526. 


96        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

2ff.)  assume  that  it  was  revealed  first  to  Moses 
and  by  him  to  the  people.  This,  of  course,  does 
not  mean  that  the  God  himself  was  unknown 
to  the  ancestors  of  Moses;  indeed,  the  very 
earliest  sources  see  in  Jahweh  the  God  of  the 
ancestors  of  Israel.  But  Moses  is  the  founder, 
the  real  founder  of  Israel's  religion,  and  with 
him  begins  the  building  up  of  that  great  series 
of  thoughts  about  this  God  which  have  given 
all  human  thinking  a  new  channel.^  There  are 
good  reasons  for  beUeving  that  among  the 
Kenites  Jahweh  was  a  God  of  high  rank,  and 
among  them  Moses  had  residence,  and  all  that 
they  had  to  witness  of  this  God  must  have 
passed  before  him;  but  it  was  no  mere  local 
God  that  Moses  introduced  in  power  to  Israel. 
From  the  very  beginning  he  is  a  God  able  to 
put  others  beneath  his  feet.^ 

1  On  the  name  Jahweh  see  further  the  very  able  article  by  Driver, 
•which  is  by  no  means  superseded,  in  Studia  Biblica,  i  (1885),  and  the 
same  author's  Book  of  Genesis  (London,  1904),  pp.  407,  409;  Kautzsch, 
Encyclopaedia  Biblica,  art.  "Names,"  §§  109-113,  and  the]  same  writer 
in  Hastings's  Bible  Dictionary,  Extra  Volume,  pp.  625ff. 

2  The  whole  question  of  Israel's  witness  to  Jahweh  in  the  earliest 
time  is  ably  handled  by  Marti  in  a  paper  of  great  suggestiveness  ("Jahwe 
und  seine  Auffassung  in  der  altesten  Zeit,"  Theologische  Studien  und 
Kritiken,  1908,  pp.  322-333),  with  most  of  which  I  find  myself  in  com- 
plete agreement.  I  inust  here  quote  a  paragraph  in  which  I  am  happy 
to  find  a  strong  support  for  some  things  which  I  have  earnestly  de- 
fended above.  After  asking  how  it  happens  that  Jahweh  becomes  to 
the  Hebrews  a  quite  different  God  from  that  which  he  had  been  to  other 
peoples,  Marti  proceeds  thus:  "Ich  denke  dabei  an  die  Tatigkeit  und 
den  Einfluss  einer  prophetischen  Gestalt  (etwa  Mose).  Jedenfalls  aber 
mochte  ich  es  durehaus  ablehnen,  dass  dazu  irgendwie  der  imaginare 
altorientalische  Monotheismus  mitgewirkt  habe.  Soweit  ich  sehen 
kann,  finde  ich  diesen  Monotheismus  des  alten  Orients  nur  in  der 
Phantasie  einiger  modemer  Gelehrten,  aber  nirgends  in  den  Kulturzen- 


THE  GODS  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA        97 

At  first  sight  this  may  seem  like  a  starthng 
robbery  of  Israel,  this  taking  away  from  her  the 
divine  name  Jahweh  as  an  exclusive  possession. 
But  it  is  not  so.  Jahweh  himself  is  not  taken 
away.  He  remains  the  priceless  possession,  the 
chief  glory  of  Israel.  It  is  only  the  name  that 
is  shown  to  be  widespread.  And  the  name 
matters  little.  The  great  question  is,  what 
does  this  name  convey? — what  is  its  theological 
content?^  The  name  came  to  Israel  from  the 
outside.  But  into  that  vessel  a  long  line  of 
prophets,  from  Moses  onward,  poured  such  a 
flood  of  attributes  as  never  a  priest  in  all  West- 
ern Asia,  from  Babylonia  to  the  Sea,  ever 
dreamed  of  in  his  highest  moments  of  spiritual 
insight.  In  this  name,  and  through  Israel's  his- 
tory, God  chose  to  reveal  himself  to  Israel  and 
by  Israel  to  the  world.  Therein  lies  the  supreme 
and  lonesome  superiority  of  Israel  over  Baby- 
lonia. 

During  all  those  centuries  from  the  dawn  of 
human  history  until  the  fall  of  Babylon  in  538 
B.C.,  polytheism,  crass  polytheism,  had  reigned 
supreme  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria.  But  in  the 
little  land  of  Israel  monotheism  struggled  up 

tren  und  Priesterkreisen  des  vorderen  Orients.  Zudem  hat  es  die  baby- 
lonisch — assyrische  Religion  ihr  Leben  lang  nie  zu  einem  wirklichen 
Monotheismus,  der  diesen  Namen  verdiente,  gebracht  und  ist  auch  der 
Gott  Israels  am  Anfang,  so  sehr  er  eine  der  Damonen  und  andere 
gottliche  Machte  uberragende  Bedeutung  besass,  noch  lange  nicht  der 
eine  Gott  gewesen." — Op.  cit.,  p.  333. 

'  See  the  sane  and  convincing  remarks  of  Dri-'er,  The  Book  of  Genesis, 
p.  409.  London,  1904. 


98        RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

through  great  and  sore  tribulations  and  at 
length  mastered  the  people,  and  through  their 
witness  now  marches  on  to  possess  the  minds 
of  all  men.  Marduk  in  Babylon  and  Ashur  in 
Nineveh  had  little  gleams  of  an  ethical  message 
now  and  again,  but  there  was  no  power  in  it. 
But  the  Hebrew  people  seize  one  name,  even 
the  name  Jau,  and  in  their  hands  it  becomes  a 
living  and  ethical  power,  growing  and  increasing 
until  Jesus,  greatest  of  the  prophets,  completed 
the  message  of  his  predecessors. 


LECTURE  III 

THE  COSMOLOGIES 

The  beginnings  of  things  possess  a  deep  in- 
terest for  all  men.  The  modern  man,  with  cen- 
turies of  speculation  and  other  centuries  of 
scientific  research  stretching  far  away  behind 
him,  feels  deeply  this  call  to  know  whence  came 
the  earth  with  all  its  beauty  of  form  and  color, 
this  sky  glorious  with  sun  and  moon  and  stars, 
this  marvelously  balanced  and  almost  infinitely 
varied  fauna  and  flora,  this  great  human  race 
so  unlike  to  the  eye,  yet  so  deeply  alike  in  its 
greater  qualities.  What  a  mystery  it  all  is,  and 
how  profoundly  we  are  stirred  as  we  reflect 
even  superficially  upon  that  moving  question. 
Whence  came  all  this?  But  if  modern  man,  with 
his  poor  little  accumulations  of  past  civilization, 
with  his  little  sum  of  scientific  knowledge  that 
seems  so  great  when  he  contemplates  it  by  itself, 
but  looks  so  small  when  compared  with  the  vast 
numbers  of  mysteries  still  unexplained — if  mod- 
ern man  feels  the  longing  to  know,  to  know 
whence  and  how,  so  also  did  ancient  man  with 
his  fresh  and  vigorous  mind  in  a  world  new  and 
stretching  out  beyond  his  ken,  far  more  than  it 
seems  now  to  do.    And  if  civilized  man  feels  the 

99 


100      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

desire  to  penetrate  the  great  solemn  gray  veil 
that  hangs  over  the  beginnings  of  things,  so 
also  did  the  barbarous,  nay,  even  the  savage 
peoples  whom  we  see  dimly  in  the  distance,  on 
the  edge  of  great  trackless  deserts,  and  in  the 
river  valleys. 

There  is  no  people  of  antiquity  now  known  to 
us  which  does  not  possess  a  creation  story  of 
some  kind.  Some  of  these  are  grotesque,  while 
others  rise  to  heights  of  poetic  beauty.  Of 
them  all  the  most  interesting  and  by  far  the 
most  important  in  its  bearing  upon  the  Old 
Testament  is  the  Babylonian  story  of  the  crea- 
tion. Before  we  come  to  its  close  study  we  may 
well  give  a  word  to  the  story  of  its  discovery 
and  decipherment. 

The  tenth  day  of  May  in  the  year  1840  was 
a  day  of  great  moment  in  the  history  of  Assyr- 
iology,  for  on  that  day  Austen  Henry  Layard, 
who  was  making  an  overland  journey  to  India, 
first  saw  the  big  mounds  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  Tigris  from  the  little  city  of  Mosul.  It 
was  then  that  he  wrote  the  memorable  words, 
^'My  curiosity  had  been  greatly  excited,  and 
from  that  time  I  formed  the  design  of  thoroughly 
examining,  whenever  it  might  be  in  my  power, 
those  singular  ruins."  It  was  five  years  before 
he  could  fulfill  that  dream,  and  then  it  was  the 
mound  of  Nimroud,  the  ancient  city  of  Calah, 
where  he  began  excavations.  Both  there  and  at 
Kuyunjik  he  had  splendid  success,  and  restored 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  101 

to  the  astonished  eyes  of  this  modern  world 
many  a  splendid  piece  of  ancient  sculpture  and 
many  a  written  record  of  Assyrian  kings.  It 
was  while  he  was  thus  engaged  that  he  dis- 
covered a  young  Oriental  named  Hormuzd  Ras- 
sam,  whom  he  attached  to  his  company  of 
helpers,  and  long  afterward  referred  to  as  ''my 
faithful  and  invaluable  friend  and  assistant." 
Trained  by  a  master,  Rassam  went  out  to  the 
mound  of  Kuyunjik  in  1852,  and  there  at  the 
end  of  the  next  year  he  discovered  the  palace  of 
Ashurbanipal,  the  last  of  the  great  Assyrian 
kings,  and  from  the  walls  of  one  room  stripped 
away  the  magnificent  Hon-hunt  sculptures, 
which  to-day  adorn  the  British  Museum,  Lon- 
don. In  that  room,  piled  in  heaps  and  masses, 
lay  hundreds  of  inscribed  tablets  that  once 
were  the  pride  and  the  treasures  of  the  library 
of  Ashurbanipal.  These  books  he  had  caused 
to  be  copied,  and  then  laid  away  to  be  read  to 
him  when  he  desired.  He  boasted  of  his  love 
for  books  in  the  almost  plaintive  phrase,  '1 
have  a  large  ear  for  books,"  and  all  over  Baby- 
lonia his  agents  had  gone  collecting  tablets  to  be 
taken  to  Nineveh  and  copied.  There  the  beau- 
tifully wrought  copies  were  carefully  preserved, 
while  the  originals  went  back  to  their  ancient 
homes  in  Nippur  or  Eridu  or  Ur. 

The  library  which  Rassam  had  thus  restored 
to  the  world  was  carried  away  to  London,  and 
from  its  masses  of  material  the  historical  in- 


102      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

scriptions  were  first  searched  out  and  published. 
Again  and  again  they  were  all  sorted  over  and 
examined  by  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  by  Professor 
A.  H.  Sayce,  and  by  others,  but  it  was  reserved 
for  the  keen  eyes  of  George  Smith  to  pick  out 
some  little  broken  fragments  and  upon  them 
laboriously  trace  out  the  Babylonian  story  of 
creation.  He  made  his  first  announcement  of 
the  great  discovery  in  the  Daily  Telegraph  on 
March  4,  1875,  and  in  that  same  year,  on  No- 
vember 2,  read  a  brilliant  paper  before  the 
Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology  describing  the 
fragmentary  tablets,  translating  portions  of 
them,  and  pointing  out  the  curious  and  inter- 
esting parallels  with  the  Old  Testament.  That 
was  a  wonderful  piece  of  work.  He  made,  in- 
deed, certain  identifications  that  later  research 
has  not  justified,  such  as  finding  in  it  allusions  to 
the  fall  of  man,  but  in  the  main  he  came  so  close 
to  the  correct  meaning,  as  later  investigation 
has  revealed  it,  that  we  can  only  be  astonished 
at  his  acumen  and  insight.  Since  his  day 
many  scholars,  working  in  divers  places,  have 
contributed  in  large  and  small  ways  to  the 
translation  and  elucidation — to  mention  their 
names  would  be  to  call  the  roll  of  the  masters 
among  Asyriologists.  It  will  serve  to  mention 
those  who  have  made  perhaps  the  most  signal 
contributions  to  the  study  of  this  great  text. 

The  first  broad  discussion  of  the  creation  tab- 
lets was  given  by  Professor  Sayce,  of  Oxford, 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  103 

SO  often  a  pioneer,  in  his  Hibbert  Lectures  in 
1887,^  and  in  1888^  he  made  a  complete  transla- 
tion of  all  the  fragments  which  had  then  been 
found.  They  were  all  translated  again  and  pro- 
vided with  many  valuable  notes  in  1890  by 
Professor  Jensen,'  of  the  University  of  Marburg. 
This  was  followed  in  1895  by  a  new  and  im- 
proved translation  by  Professor  Zimmern,*  of 
the  University  of  Leipzig,  and  in  the  very  next 
year  Professor  Delitzsch,^  of  the  University  of 
Berhn,  translated  again  the  whole  story,  to  be 
followed  in  1900  and  1901  by  a  new  complete 
translation  and  commentary  by  Professor  Jen- 
sen.* The  capstone  upon  the  whole  work  was 
placed  in  1902  by  Dr.  L.  W.  King,^  of  the 
British  Museum.  Up  to  that  time  only  twenty- 
one  fragments  had  been  known  and  translated. 
To  these  King  added  no  less  than  twenty-eight 


1  Sayce,  Lectures  on  the  Origin  and  Grou4h.  of  Religion  as  illustrated  by 
the  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Babylonians  (Hibbert  Lectures  for  1887), 
pp.  397ff. 

8  Records  of  the  Past,  New  Series,  i,  pp.  122ff. 

»  Peter  Jensen,  Die  Kosmologie  der  Babylonier,  pp.  263ff. 

*  Heinrich  Zimmern,  in  Gunkel,  Schopfung  und  Chaos  in  Urzeit  und 
Endzeit,  pp.  401ff. 

*  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  "Das  Babylonische  Weltschopfungsepos," 
Abhandlungen  der  phUologisch-historischen  Classe  der  Koniglichen  Sdch- 
sischen  Gesellschaft  der  Wissenschaften,  xvii.  No.  ii,  and  also  published 
separately. 

*  Peter  Jensen,  Assyrisch-Babylonische  Mythen  und  Epcn  (Schrader's 
Keilinschriftliche  Bibliothek,  v),  in  two  parts,  the  first  containing  trans- 
literations and  translations,  the  second  the  commentary. 

7  L.  W.  King,  The  Seven  Tablets  of  Creation;  or,  The  Babylonian  and 
Assyrian  Legends  concerning  the  Creation  of  the  World  and  of  Mankind. 
2  vols.    London,  1902. 


104      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

fragments  previously  unknown,  and  then  trans- 
lated the  whole  forty-nine  in  a  masterly  fashion. 
Upon  this  edition  all  new  progress  must  build 
for  many  days  to  come. 

And  now  let  us  come  a  little  closer  to  this 
wonderful  ancient  story.  The  Assyrian  poem, 
as  it  has  come  down  to  us,  is  fragmentary  in- 
deed, but  enough  remains  to  show  us  its  original 
content.  It  was  called  by  the  Assyrians  Enuma 
elish,  'Vhen  above,"  or  ''when  in  the  height," 
these  being  the  two  Assyrian  words  with  which 
the  text  begins.  According  to  the  careful 
enumeration  and  calculations  of  King  it  con- 
sisted of  nine  hundred  and  ninety-four  lines, 
and  these  were  divided  into  seven  sections,  each 
section  being  inscribed  upon  a  separate  tablet 
and  each  tablet  being  numbered  in  order.  ''The 
shortest  tablet  contains  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  lines,  and  the  longest  one  hundred  and 
forty-six,  the  average  length  of  a  tablet  being 
about  one  hundred  and  forty-two  lines. "^ 

The  story  begins  with  a  primeval  chaos  of 
waters  in  which  lived  the  water  gods  Apsu  and 
Tiamat.  From  these  sprang  other  gods,  and 
two  of  the  later  gods,  named  Ea  and  Marduk, 
finally  overthrew  Apsu  and  Tiamat;  while 
Marduk,  when  his  victory  was  complete,  created 
earth  and  man.  Our  copy  of  it  was  made,  for 
the  most  part,  for  the  library  of  Ashurbanipal 
(668-626  B.C.),  but  some  of  the  fragments  were 

1  King,  The  Seven  Tablets  of  Creation,  i,  p.  xxv.    London,  1902. 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  105 

written  out  in  the  Neo-Babylonian  (625-538 
B.C.)  and  in  the  Persian  period  (538-330  B.C.), 
and  one  may  even  belong  to  the  period  of  the 
Arsacidse  (250  B.C.).  But  these  dates  of  the 
actual  copying  out  of  the  tablets  which  have 
been  preserved  to  our  day  give  no  idea  of  the 
date  of  the  composition  of  the  story  itself,  and 
to  that  we  must  now  give  attention. 

The  story  in  its  present  form  is  clearly  of  com- 
posite character,*  and  it  is  easy  to  see  as  we  read 
it  that  it  bears  traces  of  a  long  period  of  editing 
and  compiling.  King  distinguishes,  and  I  be- 
lieve rightly,  no  less  than  five  principal  strands, 
woven  together  to  make  the  complete  tapestry 
picture.  These  are:  (1)  The  Birth  of  the  Gods, 
(2)  The  Legend  of  Ea  and  Apsu,  (3)  The  Dragon 
Myth,  (4)  The  Actual  Account  of  Creation,  and 
(5)  The  Hymn  to  Marduk  under  his  fifty  titles. 

Now,  the  very  first  thing  to  notice  about  its 
present  form  is  that  it  is  compiled  not  to  honor 
the  chief  god  of  Assyria,  who  was  Ashur,  but 
rather  to  give  the  highest  rank  among  all  the 
gods  to  Marduk,  the  god  of  Babylon.  This 
makes  it  quite  clear  that  the  story  is  Baby- 
lonian and  not  Assyrian.  And  now,  if  we  analyze 
the  story  a  little  more  closely,  following  King's 
enumeration  of  the  original  strands,  we  can  see 
that  (a)  the  dragon  myth  existed  in  other  forms, 
in  which  other  gods  than  Marduk  were  the 
heroes;   (b)  the  creation  story  also  existed  in 

1  So  King,  op.  dt.,  pp.  Ixvi  ff. 


106      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

other  forms,  in  one  of  which  the  creation  is  not 
connected  with  the  death  of  a  dragon;  and  (c) 
the  hymn  to  Marduk  can  be  clearly  shown  to 
have  existed  quite  separately  from  the  creation 
narrative. 

And  now,  before  we  plunge  into  the  reading 
of  the  poem  itself,  we  may  well  give  heed  to 
one  more  question,  and  that  a  question  of  mov- 
ing interest,  the  answer  to  which  will  project 
its  influence  far  over  the  poem,  and  confront  us 
when  we  attempt  to  attack  a  still  greater  prob- 
lem. This  question  is.  How  old  are  these  creation 
legends — to  what  period  do  they  go  back  in 
their  origins?  Step  by  step  we  can  trace  them 
back  into  the  distant  centuries,  (a)  When 
Ashurnazirpal  was  king  of  Assyria  (884-860 
B.C.)  he  set  up  two  great  limestone  slabs  on 
which  are  found  representations  of  the  con- 
flict between  Marduk  and  Tiamat.  So  the 
creation  legends  go  back  into  the  ninth  century, 
two  centuries  older  than  their  present  form. 
But  (b)  we  can  take  a  much  more  distant  flight 
than  this,  for  a  Babylonian  king,  Agum,  who 
reigned  not  later  than  the  seventeenth  century 
before  Christ,  set  up  in  the  temple  of  E-sagila 
at  Babylon  figures  of  dragons  and  other  mon- 
sters which  undoubtedly  portray  Tiamat  and 
her  foul  brood,  and  thus  this  feature  of  the 
story  is  carried  a  thousand  years  beyond  the 
great  Assyrian  monarch.  A  still  greater  age 
is  assured  by   (c)   the  recovery  of  numerous 


Obverse 


Reverse 

FIGURE  v.— FRAGMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  TABLET  OF   CREATION 

British  Museum,  K.  5419  C 

Size  of  the  original,  3J  by  IJ  inches 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  107 

legends  of  the  same  type  relating  to  Adapa, 
to  Ea  and  Atrakhasis,  and  to  Etana  which  be- 
long to  the  period  of  2000  B.C.  To  this  period, 
the  period  which  precedes  and  includes  the 
elevation  of  Babylon  to  be  the  chief  city  of 
Babylonia — to  this  period  must  be  ascribed  the 
origin  and  composition  of  the  creation  stories. 
An  antiquity  so  great  as  this  adds  a  new  in- 
terest to  the  story  which  is  now  to  be  translated 
and  accompanied  by  such  comment  as  may 
make  its  meaning  clear. 

THE   FIRST   TABLET 
When  above  the  heaven  was  not  named 
And  beneath  the  earth  bore  no  name, 

This  means  when  there  was  neither  heaven  nor 
earth,  for  to  the  Semite  a  thing  which  had  no 
name  had  no  existence. 

And  the  primeval  Apsu,  who  begat  them, 

And  Mummu^-Tiamat,  the  mother  of  them  all, — 

Here  are  two  beings,  the  male  god  Apsu  and 
the  goddess  Tiamat ;  the  beings  mentioned  under 
the  phrase  "mother  of  them  all"  are  the  ill 
brood   of  monsters  afterward   called   into   ex- 

'  The  use  of  "Mummu"  here  is  extremely  difficult  and  the  signification 
doubtful.  Below  Mummu  appears  as  a  third  person  (see  line  30),  as  a 
messenger;  but  in  this  passage  there  is  no  connective  between  Mummu 
and  Tiamat,  and  if  we  assiime  here  that  Mummu  is  the  name  of  this 
messenger  the  passage  becomes  very  hard  syntactically,  if  not  indeed 
impossible.  I  am  uncertain  as  to  the  meaning,  and  for  the  present  leave 
it  stand  as  Mummu-Tiamat,  as  though  the  "Mummu"  were  merely  some 
Bort  of  title  or  appellative.  It  is  often  translated  "chaos  Tiamat";  so 
King. 


108       RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

istence  by  Tiamat  when  the  great  conflict 
begins. 

5  Their  waters  were  mingled  together, 
And  no  reed^  was  formed,  no  marsh  seen, 
When  no  one  of  the  gods  had  been  called  into  being, 
(And)  none  bore  a  name,  and  no  destinies  [were  fixed]. 
Then  were  created  the  gods  in  the  midst  of  [heaven], 

10  Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu  were  called  into  existence 

Ages  increased 

Anshar  and  Kishar  were  created,  and  over  them  .  .  . 

Long  were  the  days,  then  came  there  forth 

Anu  their  son^ 

These  two  beings  Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu  ap- 
pear later  in  the  story  as  fighting  on  the  side 
of  Tiamat,  but  Anshar  and  Kishar  are  the  first 
of  the  gods  to  come  into  existence,  the  former 

1  The  meaning  of  gipara,  here  translated  "reed,"  is  doubtful.  It  is 
usually  rendered  "field,"  but  Sayce  is  probably  right  in  connecting  it 
with  Aramaic  I^Sp,  Greek  TzdirvpoQ.  Delitzsch  translates  "Gefilde"; 
Bezold  (Babylonisch-Assyrische  Texte.  I.  Die  Schopfungslegende,  Bonn, 
1904),  doubtfully,  "Feld."  King  translates  "field,"  but  in  the  glossary 
writes,  "giparu,  'field'(?),  or  possibly  a  kind  of  tree." 

2  In  the  original  text  the  lines  were  divided  by  a  caesura  into  half  lines. 
The  proof  of  this  is  abundant,  and  many  lines  are  thus  broken  by  express 
indications  in  the  Assyrian  text.  In  the  translations  by  Delitzsch  and 
by  Zimmern  the  lines  are  also  thus  divided.  I  have  not  followed  their 
Example  for  the  reason  that  to  do  so  involves  inversions  in  the  English 
order  in  many  places,  or  artificial  expedients  in  the  translation  which 
gi-"e  a  false  impression  to  the  English  reader.  For  the  purpose  of  these 
lectures  I  am  much  more  concerned  to  represent  the  thought  of  the  poem 
than  its  form.  The  reader  who  has  an  eye  and  an  ear  for  verse  will  in 
many  places  in  my  translation  be  able  to  discern  the  caesura.  There 
would  be  loss  and  not  gain  for  all  others  in  any  attempt  to  separate  the 
lines  into  two  parts.  In  neglecting  the  ccesura  I  have  also  the  excellent 
example  of  King,  to  whose  translation  I  owe  much  in  many  ways,  and 
also  of  Bezold,  from  whom  also  I  have  deri-\'ed  useful  assistance.  Zim- 
mern insists  strongly  upon  the  importance  of  the  csesura,  and  has 
unfavorably  criticized  translations  of  Assyrian  poetry  in  which  it  was 
disregarded.      But  it  is  easier  to  represent  it  in  German  than  in  English. 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  109 

representing  the  heavenly  and  the  latter 
the  earthly  part  of  the  universe.  From  these 
there  proceed,  like  emanations,  the  gods  Anu 
and  Ea,  the  latter  under  the  name  of  Nudim- 
mud,  who  is  said  to  be  ''abounding  in  all  wis- 
dom" and  ''exceeding  strong."  Now,  Anu  is 
the  head  of  the  great  triad,  Anu,  Ellil,  and  Ea, 
and  as  the  first  and  third  are  here  mentioned 
it  is  quite  likely  that  the  second  was  also  orig- 
inally named.  But  ElHl  (or  Bel)  was  afterward 
eliminated  from  this  story  in  order  to  lay  all 
the  emphasis  upon  Marduk,  the  god  of  Babylon. 
And  now  there  arises  a  conflict  between  Apsu 
and  Tiamat,  the  representatives  of  chaos  and 
disorder,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  gods  Anu  and 
Ea,  the  representatives  of  order  and  cosmos,  on 
the  other.    The  story  runs  on  thus : 

But  [iTiamat  and  Apsu]  were  still  in  confusion, 

They  were  troubled  and 

In  confusion. 
25  Apsu  was  not  diminished 

And  Tiamat  roared 

They  all  smote^ 

Their  way  was  not  good,  they 

Then  Apsu,  the  begetter  of  the  great  gods, 
30  Summoned  Mummu,  his  messenger,  and  said  unto 
him, 

"O  Mummu,  messenger  that  rejoicest  my  heart, 

Come,  let  us  go  unto  Tiamat." 

They  went  and  before  Tiamat  they  lay  down, 

»  King  translates,  "She  smote,  and  their  deeds."  But  for  an  interest- 
ing suggestion  see  Dhonne,  Choix  de  Textes  Rdigieux  Assyro-Babyloniens, 
p.  7.     Paris,  1907. 


110       RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

They  consulted  on  a  plan  concerning  the  gods,  their 
sons. 

This  passage  makes  it  clear  enough  that  Apsu 
was  conceived  as  the  male  principle  and  Tia- 
mat  the  female,  and  that  from  these  had  come 
originally  the  gods.  And  now  Apsu  and  Tia- 
mat  are  angry  at  their  own  progeny,  and  it  is 
not  perfectly  clear  what  the  cause  of  the  anger 
was,  but  perhaps  the  best  suggestion  thus  far 
offered  is  that  they  were  simply  enraged  at  the 
progress  made  by  the  gods  in  bringing  order 
out  of  chaos.  There  would  be  no  peace  and  no 
resting  place  for  them  when  Cosmos  had  dis- 
placed Chaos. 

35  Apsu  opened  his  mouth  and  said  to  her, 

And  unto  Tiamat,  the  brilliant,  he  spake  a  word: 

" their  way 

By  day  I  cannot  rest,  I  cannot  lie  down  by  night, 
I  will  destroy  their  way,  I  will  [disperse  them] 

40  That  the  clamor  may  cease,  that  we  may  lie  down." 
When  Tiamat  [heard]  these  words, 

She  was  furious,  and  cried  for 

She  went  into  a  terrible  anger, 
She  conceived  evil  in  her  heart: 

45  "All  that  which  we  have  made  we  will  destroy. 

Lettheirwaybefullofwretchedness,andletusliedown." 
Mummu  answered,  and  gave  counsel  unto  Apsu — 
A  hostile  counsel  was  the  counsel  of  Mummu: 
"Come,  their  way  is  strong,  but  destroy  thou  it. 

50  So  shalt  thou  have  rest  by  day,  by  night  thou  shalt 
lie  down." 

The  issue  was  now  joined,  and  on  behalf  of  the 
gods  Ea  took  up  the  dreadful  contest,  and  in 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  111 

some  way  Anu  is  associated  with  him.  At  this 
point  the  tablets  are  so  fragmentary  that  we 
cannot  follow  the  story  with  perfect  certainty, 
but  it  is  clear  that  Ea  prevailed,  destroyed  Apsu 
and  captured  Mummu.  How  this  was  accom- 
plished we  do  not  certainly  know,  but  it  would 
appear  that  Ea  overwhelmed  them  both,  not  by 
violence,  but  by  a  ''pure  incantation."^ 

Tiamat  was  unconquered  and  in  confusion, 
and  then  is  urged  on  by  a  "bright  god"  who  is 
probably  Kingu.  Upon  this  a  new  conflict 
begins.  It  seems  quite  probable  that  the  pas- 
sage which  follows  is  a  doublet.  The  first, 
which  honors  Ea,  by  making  him  the  hero,  is 
now  succeeded  by  the  second,  in  which  Marduk 
is  the  hero.  But  Marduk  was  not  probably  the 
original  hero  of  this  section.  It  was  the  elder 
Bel,  the  god  of  Nippur,  whose  original  name 
was  En-lil,  or  EUil.  Marduk  has  simply  dis- 
placed him  and  assumed  his  position  of  honor. 
We  shall  do  well  to  note  this  particularly,  for 
we  shall  later  be  called  on  to  see  how  Marduk 
was  displaced  in  turn  by  another  and  much 
greater  god.^    Let  us  now  resume  the  story: 

'  This  is  not  quite  certain,  but  line  60  runs  thus: 

"Then  went  up  Ea,  who  knoweth  all  things,  and  beheld  their  designs." 
Line  61  has  disappeared  altogether,  and  then  in  line  62  we  have: 

" to  make  his  pure  incantation," 

which  seems  at  least  to  suggest  that  this  was  his  weapon,  especially  as 
in  the  fragmentary  lines  that  remain  there  appear  no  hints  of  any  other 
weapons,  such,  for  example,  as  are  so  elaborately  described  below  when 
Marduk  is  engaged. 

2  See  p.  134. 


112      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

They    cursed  the  day,  and  at  the  side  of    Tiamat 

advanced, 
110  They  were  furious,  they  devised  mischief  night  and 

day  without  rest. 
They  take  up  the  combat,  they  devastate,  they  rage. 
They  join  their  forces,  they  organize  battle. 
[Ummu-Khubu]r   [that  is,  Tiamat],  who  formed  all 

things. 
Made  also  weapons  invincible,  she  spawned  monster 

serpents, 
115  Sharp,  of  tooth  and  merciless  in  carnage; 

[With   venom   instead    of]   blood   she   filled   [their] 

bodies. 
Terrible  dragons  she  clothed  with  terror. 
With  splendor  she  decked  them,  she  made  them  of 

lofty  appearance. 
Whoever  beheld  them,  terror  overcame  him, 
120  Their  bodies  reared  up  and  none  could  withstand 

their  attack. 
She  set  up  serpents,  and  reptiles,  and  the  monster 

Lakhamu, 
And  hurricanes  and  furious  dogs,  and  scorpion  men 
And  mighty  tempests,  and  fish  men  and  [rams]; 
They  bore  pitiless  weapons,  fearless  of  the  fight. 
125  [Puissant]  were  her  orders,  [none]  could  resist  them. 
In  all,  eleven  monsters  of  this  kind,  she  created. 
Among  the  gods  who  were  her  firstborn,  who  formed 

her  troop, 
She  exalted  Kingu ;  among  them  she  made  him  great. 
To  march  before  the  troops,  to  lead  the  throng, 
130  To  seize  the  weapons,^   to   advance,   to  begin  the 

attack, 
The  primacy  in  the  combat,  the  control  of  the  fight 
She  intrusted  to  him,  in  costly  raiment  she  made  him 

sit. 


1  "To  give  the  battle  signal." — King. 


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Obverse 


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FIGURE  Vr.— THE  SECOND  TABLET  OF  CREATION 

British  Museum,  No.  40,559 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  113 

"I  have  uttered  the  spell,  in  the  assembly  of  the 

gods  I  have  made  thee  Lord, 
The  lordship  over  all  the  gods  I  have  intrusted  to 

thee. 
135  Be  thou  exalted,  thou  mine  only  spouse. 

May  the  Anunnaki  exalt  thy  name  over  all." 

She  gave  him  the  tablets  of  destiny,  on  his  breast  she 

placed  them. 
"Thy  command  shall  not  fail,  the  word  of  thy  mouth 

shall  be  estabhshed." 
When   Kingu   was   exalted,   and  had   received   the 

power  of  Anu, 
140  He  decreed  destiny  among  the  gods  his  sons,  (saying:) 
"The  opening  of  your  mouth  shall  quench  the  fire 

god, 
The  strong  in  combat  shall  increase  his  strength." 

Here  ends  the  first  tablet,  ends  in  chaos,  and 
wild  threats  and  inhuman  passions,  and  strange 
monsters  and  mighty  forces  of  disorder.  The 
picture  is  made  exceedingly  somber,  to  throw 
into  higher  light  and  more  impressive  relief  the 
splendid  beauty  and  order  of  the  world,  which 
Marduk's  power  and  wisdom  perfected. 

The  second  tablet  begins  with  a  description 
of  the  helplessness  of  the  other  gods  until  Mar- 
duk  accepts  the  challenge  and  enters  the  lists. 

THE    SECOND    TABLET 

Tiamat  made  strong  her  work, 
Evil  she  devised  among  the  gods  her  children. 
To  avenge  Apsu,  Tiamat  planned  evil, 
And  how  she  had  collected  her  army,  the  god  told  Ea. 
5  Ea  listened  to  this  word,  and 

He  was  sadly  afilicted  and  sat  in  sorrow. 


114       RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

The  days  went  by,  and  his  anger  was  appeased, 
And  to  the  place  of  Anshar,  his  father,  he  made  his 

way. 
He  went  before  Anshar,  the  father  who  begat  him, 
10  All  that  Tiamat  had  planned,  he  announced  to  him: 
"Tiamat,  our  mother,  has  conceived  a  hatred  against 

us, 
An  assembly  has  she  made,  she  rages  in  anger. 
All  the  gods  have  turned  to  her. 
Even  those  whom  ye  have  created  march  at  her  side, 
15  They  have  cursed  the  day,  they  advance  at  Tiamat's 
side. 

And  now  he  repeats  the  passage  already  cited 
above,  with  the  lurid  description  of  the  mon- 
strous serpents  and  the  wild  creatures  which 
Tiamat  has  '^spawned."  All  this  is  intended  to 
heighten  the  difficulty  in  which  the  great  gods 
were  placed  and  so  to  make  more  evident  the 
greatness  of  Marduk.  The  effect  of  the  story 
upon  Anshar  is  thus  recounted: 

When  Anshar  heard  that  Tiamat  was  mightily  in 
revolt^ 
50  He  smote  his  loins,  he  bit  his  lips, 

within  he  was  not  at  peace, 

His ,  he  sounded  a  cry. 

Ea  has  conquered  Mummu  and  Apsu,  but  what 
can  now  be  done  in  this  far  greater  difficulty? 
He  appeals  to  Ea: 

Anshar  unto  his  son  addressed  the  word: 

" My  mighty  warrior 

Whose  power  is  great,  whose  onslaught  resistless, 


1  The  restoration  and  translation  are  King's. 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  115 

75  Go  and  stand  before  Tiamat, 

That  her  spirit  may  be  appeased,  her  heart  calmed. 

But  if  she  hearken  not  to  thy  word, 

Then  shalt  thou  speak  our  message,  that  she  may  be 
pacified." 

He  heard  the  word  of  his  father  Anshar 
80  And  turned  his  face  to  her,  toward  her  he  made  his 
way 

And  drew  nigh,  he  saw  the  design  of  Tiamat 

[But  could  not  endure  her  presence],  he  turned  back. 

Ea,  who  had  vanquished  Apsu  and  captured 
Mummu,  is  no  match  for  Tiamat  and  turns 
back.  Anshar  therefore  turns  to  Marduk  and 
tries  in  every  way  to  encourage  him  to  under- 
take the  perilous  conflict.  Thus  does  he  address 
him: 

110  "Thou  art  my  son,  who  openeth  wide  his  heart. 

to  the  battle  shalt  thou  approach, 

he  shall  see  thee  in  peace." 

And  the  lord  rejoiced  at  his  father's  word, 
And  he  drew  nigh  and  stood  before  Anshar. 

115  Anshar  looked  upon  him  and  his  heart  was  filled 
with  joy. 
He  kissed  his  lips  and  fear  departed  from  him. 

These  words  and  these  acts  of  love  are  di- 
rected to  Marduk,  to  Marduk  of  Babylon,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  original  ver- 
sion the  god  who  was  thus  honored  and  en- 
couraged was  Ellil,  the  elder  Bel  of  Nippur. 
He  has  been  supplanted  by  the  act  of  the  priests 
of  Babylon.  Marduk  addresses  his  father  in 
these  words : 


116      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

"[0  my  father],  let  not  the  word  of  thy  lips  be  covered, 
O  let  me  accomplish  all  that  is  in  thy  heart, 
[O  Anshar],  let  not  the  word  of  thy  lips  be  covered, 
120  O  let  me  accomplish  all  that  is  in  thy  heart." 

"What  man  is  it,"  saith  Anshar,  "that  hath  brought 
thee  to  battle? 

Tiamat,  who  is  a  woman,  attacks  thee  with 

arms 

rejoice  and  be  glad, 

The  neck  of  Tiamat  shalt  thou  swiftly  trample  under 
foot. 

125 rejoice  and  be  glad. 

The  neck  of  Tiamat  shalt  thou  swiftly  trample  under 

foot. 
O  my  [son],  who  knowest  all  wisdom. 
Appease  Tiamat  with  thy  pure  incantation,^ 
Set  out  speedily  on  thy  way, 
130  Thy  blood  shall  not  be  poured  out,  thou  shalt  return 
again." 
The  lord  rejoiced  at  his  father's  word. 
His  heart  exulted  and  he  spoke  to  his  father: 
"0  Lord  of  the  gods.  Destiny  of  the  great  gods, 
If  I,  your  avenger, 
135  Do  enchain  Tiamat,  and  give  you  life, 
Make  an  assembly,  exalt  my  destiny. 
In  Upshukkinaku  seat  yourselves  joyfully  together, 
With  my  word,  in  your  stead,  will  I  decree  destiny. 
That  which  I  do  shall  remain  unchanged, 
140  It  shall  not  be  changed,  it  shall  not  fail,  the  word  of 
my  lips." 

1  This  art  of  incantation  Marduk  has  received  from  Ea  (compare 
Jastrow,  Die  Religion  Bahyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  p.  295).  There  is  a 
passage  in  the  Shurpu  texts  (Zimmern,  Beitrdge  zur  Kentniss  der  Baby- 
lonischen  Religion,  p.  27)  in  which  Ea  says  to  Marduk: 

"That  which  I  know,  thou  shalt  know." 
This  is,  of  course,  a  part  of  the  priestly  plan  in  Babylon  to  elevate  Mar- 
duk to  the  first  rank,  of  which  I  have  spoken  repeatedly  elsewhere. 


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Obverse 


Reverse 

FIGURE   VII— THE  THIRD  TABLET  OF  CREATION 
British  Museum,  No.  93,017 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  117 

The  tense  interest  and  feeling  of  the  story  is 
relaxed  in  the  third  tablet,  which  is  devoted 
entirely  to  securing  the  consent  of  the  gods  to 
Marduk's  request  for  peculiar  honors  if  he  should 
find  victory  over  Tiamat.  Perhaps  a  portion  of 
the  tablet  ought  here  to  be  quoted  that  our 
picture  of  the  entire  legendary  and  mythological 
matter  may  be  complete. 

THE   THIRD   TABLET 

Anshar  opened  his  mouth,  and 
[Unto  Gaga],  his  [minister],  spoke  the  word: 
["O  Gaga,  thou  minister]  that  rejoicest  my  heart 
[Unto  Lakhmu  and  Lakh]amu  will  I  send  thee. 
5  [The  order  of  my  heart]  thou  canst  comprehend 

thou  shalt  bring  before  me 

let  the  gods,  all  of  them, 

[Make  ready  for  a  feast,]^  at  a  banquet  let  them  sit, 
Let  them  eat  bread,  let  them  mix  wine, 

10  [For  Marduk]  their  avenger  let  them  decree  destiny. 
[Go,]  Gaga,  stand  before  them, 

[All  that]  I  say  to  thee,  repeat  thou  to  them,  saying, 
'Anshar,  your  son,  hath  sent  me. 
The  command  of  his  heart,  he  hath  made  me  to  know. 

15  He  saith,  that  Tiamat,  our  mother,  has  conceived  a 
hatred  against  us. 
An  assembly  has  she  made,  she  rages  in  anger. 
All  the  gods  have  turned  to  her. 
Even  those  whom  ye  have  created,  march  at  her 
side.'  " 

Then  Anshar  repeats  again  the  same  passage  out 
of  the  first  tablet  in  which  is  described  the  mon- 


1  All  the  bracketed  restorations  in  these  eight  lines  are  due  to  King. 


118      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

strous  serpents  and  all  the  fearsome,  horrid 
brood  that  Tiamat  has  spawned.  Lakhmu  and 
Lakhamu,  as  Jastrow  has  pointed  out,  are  here 
in  this  speech  set  forth  as  leaders  of  the  gods 
called  Igigi,  who  are  in  the  later  theology  classi- 
fied as  heavenly  gods,  and  also  of  the  Anunnaki, 
who  are  the  earthly  or  subterranean  gods.  And 
now  the  story  is  resumed,  after  the  description 
of  the  terrible  allies  of  Tiamat,  in  these  words: 

"I  have  sent  Anu,  but  he  could  not  withstand  her 

presence. 
Nudimmud  [that  is,  Ea]  was  afraid  and  turned  back. 
55  But  Marduk  is  ready,  the  director  of  the  gods,  your 

son; 
To  set  out  against  Tiamat,  his  heart  has  moved  him. 
He  opened  his  mouth  and  spoke  to  me,  saying, 
*If  I,  your  avenger, 
Do  enchain  Tiamat  and  give  you  Ufe, 
60  Make  an  assembly,  exalt  my  destiny. 

In  Upshukkinaku  set  yourselves  joyfully  together. 
With  my  word,  in  your  stead,  will  I  decree  destiny. 
That  which  I  do  shall  remain  unchanged. 
It  shall  not  be  changed,  it  shall  not  fail,  the  word  of 

my  lips.' 
65  Hasten,  therefore,  and  fix  quickly  your  destiny 
That  he  may  go  and  attack  your  strong  enemy!" 
Gaga  went,  he  made  his  way  and 
Before  Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu,  the  gods  his  fathers, 
Humbly  did  he  make  obeisance,  and  kissed  the  ground 

at  their  feet, 
70  He  humbled  himself;  then  he  stood  up  and  spake  to 

them,  saying, 
"Anshar  your  son  has  sent  me. 
The  purpose  of  his  heart  he  has  made  known  to  me, 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  119 

He  says  that  Tiamat,  our  mother,  has  conceived  a 

hatred  against  us, 
An  assembly  has  she  made,  she  rages  in  anger." 

And  now  once  more  do  we  have  repeated  the 
thirty-three  hnes  out  of  the  first  tablet  contain- 
ing the  description  of  the  demons,  beasts,  and 
monsters  spawned  by  Tiamat.  The  priests  who 
made  this  compilation  were  determined  to  get 
this  grewsome  picture  fully  before  the  mind 
and  heart  of  all  Babylon's  worshipers.  To 
them  all,  this  oft-repeated  passage  should  show 
from  how  great  misery  and  danger  Marduk  had 
delivered  them.  Following  on  this  description, 
Gaga  repeats  to  the  gods  the  demand  of  Mar- 
duk for  honors  above  the  other  gods.  The 
priests  intended  also  to  make  plain  that  Marduk 
had  come  to  his  honors  only  after  the  demand 
had  been  made  perfectly  clear  and  unmistak- 
able. Let  us  now  see  what  the  assembly  had  to 
answer  to  the  demands.  And  first  of  all  the 
gods  must  express  horror  at  Tiamat  and  all  her 
deeds  and  plans. 

125  Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu  heard,  they  cried  aloud, 
All  of  the  Igigi  complained  bitterly,  saying, 

"Because  of  what  enmity  is  it  that  they 

We  do  not  understand  the  [deed]  of  Tiamat." 
Then  they  gathered  together,  they  went 

130  The  great  gods,  all  of  them,  who  decree  [destiny]. 

They  entered  before  Anshar,  they  filled 

They  kissed  one  another,  in  the  assembly 

They  made  ready  the  feast,  at  the  banquet  [they  sat]. 
They  ate  bread,  they  mingled  the  wine. 


120      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

135  The  sweet  drink  made  them  drunken 

By  drinking  they  were  drunken,  their  bodies  were 

filled. 
They  shouted  aloud,  their  heart  was  exalted, 
Then  for  Marduk,   their  avenger,   did  they  decree 

destiny. 

So  concludes  the  third  tablet  with  a  company 
of  drunken  gods  in  maudlin  amiability  prepared 
to  grant  all  the  demands  of  Marduk.  What  a 
contrast  do  Hebrew  conceptions  of  godhead 
present  to  this!  We  must  desire  eagerly  to  be 
fair,  not  to  say  generous,  in  all  our  judgments 
of  the  religions  of  mankind,  but  it  were  folly 
not  to  observe  the  weakness  and  degradation  of 
this  ancient  faith  at  the  same  time  that  we  see 
its  beauty  and  power. 

And  now  begins  the  fourth  tablet,  with  the 
drunken  gods  heaping  honors  upon  Marduk. 

THE    FOURTH    TABLET 

They  prepared  for  him  a  princely  seat, 
Before  his  fathers  he  took  his  place  as  sovereign. 
"Thou  art  most  honored  among  the  great  gods. 
Thy  destiny  is  beyond   compare,  thy   command  is 

Anu. 
5  O  Marduk,  thou  art  most  honored  among  the  great 

gods. 
Thy  destiny  is  beyond  compare,  thy  command  is 

Anu. 
In  all  time  thy  command  shall  not  be  changed, 
To  exalt  and  to  abase  lie  in  thy  hand. 
Established  shall  be  the  word  of  thy  mouth,  resistless 

thy  command. 


Obverse 


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Reverse 

FIGURE  VIII.— THE  FOURTH  TABLET  OF  CREATION 

British  Museum,  No.  93,016 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  121 

10  None  among  the  gods  shall  transgress  thy  limits. 
Abundance  is  the  desire  of  the  shrines  of  the  gods, 
In  their  place  shall  thy  sanctuary  be  established. 
O  Marduk,  thou  art  our  avenger. 
We  give  thee  lordship  over  the  whole  world. 
15  Thou  shalt  take  thy  seat  in  the  assembly,  thy  word 
shall  be  exalted. 
Thy  weapon  shall  not  lose  its  power,  it  shall  break 

in  pieces  thy  foe. 
O  lord,  spare  the  life  of  him  that  trusteth  in  thee. 
But,  as  for  the  god,  who  undertook  evil,  pour  out  his 
hfe." 

And  now  a  curiously  interesting  test  of  Mar- 
duk's  power  is  proposed,  accepted,  and  success- 
fully carried  out.  He  is  to  make  a  garment 
disappear  and  then  reappear.  It  makes  one 
think,  superficially,  of  Gideon's  test  with  the 
fleece.^  But  here  is  the  description  that  the 
poem  gives: 

Then  they  placed  among  them  a  garment, 
20  And  unto  Marduk,  their  firstborn,  they  spoke: 

"Thy  destiny,  O  lord,  is  supreme  among  the  gods, 

To  destroy  and  to  create,  when  thou  dost  command, 
it  shall  be  fulfilled. 

Thy  command  shall  destroy  the  garment, 

And  if  thou  dost  command,  the  garment  shall  be 
intact." 
25  Then  he  spoke  with  his  mouth,  the  garment  was  de- 
stroyed, 

He  commanded  again,  the  garment  was  restored. 

When  the  gods,  his  fathers,  beheld  the  efficacy  of 
his  word 

They  rejoiced,  they  paid  homage,  "Marduk  is  king." 

»  Judg.  6.  36-40. 


122      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Here  is  made  plain  that  Marduk  is  conceived  as 
having  Ea's  power,  the  power  of  the  word} 
Ea,  the  god  of  wisdom  in  early  times,  is  the  god 
who  has  the  power  of  the  word.  Here  is  this 
power  taken  over  by  Marduk.  And  now  Mar- 
duk must  be  prepared  with  all  weapons  of 
offense  and  of  defense  for  the  great  and  terrible 
conflict. 

They  bestowed  upon  him  the  scepter,  the  throne, 
the  palu} 
30  They  gave  him  an  invincible  weapon,  which  destroys 
the  enemy. 
"Go  and  cut  off  the  life  of  Tiamat, 
Let  the  wind  carry  her  blood  into  secret  places. 
After  the  gods  his  fathers  had  decreed  for  the  lord 

his  destiny 
They  made  his  way  a  path  of  salvation  and  success. 
35  He  made  ready  the  bow,  chose  it  as  his  weapon, 

He  seized  a  spear,  he  fastened 

He  raised  the  club,  in  his  right  hand  he  grasped  it, 
The  bow  and  the  quiver  he  hung  at  his  side. 
He  put  the  lightning  in  front  of  him, 
40  With  flaming  fire  he  filled  his  body. 

He  made  a  net  to  inclose  Tiamat  within  it. 

He  set  it  up  at  the  four  winds,  that  naught  of  her 

might  escape. 
At  the  south  wind,  and  the  north  wind,  and  the  east 

wind,  and  the  west  wind, 
He  brought  near  the  net,  the  gift  of  his  father  Anu. 
45  He  created  an  evil  wind,  a  tempest,  and  a  hurricane, 
A  fourfold  wind,  a  sevenfold  wind,  a  whirlwind,  a 
wind  beyond  compare, 


1  That  is,  "the  pure  incantation."    See  p.  Ill,  note  1. 
^  Palu  perhaps  signifies  ring  (King). 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  123 

He  sent  forth  the  winds,  which  he  had  created,  the 

seven  of  them. 
To  disturb  the  inner  parts  of  Tiamat,  they  followed 

after  him. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  description  of  the 
conflict.  It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  breaks  in 
some  of  the  lines  mar  the  onward  movement  of 
passionate  description.  What  remains  belongs 
to  the  greatest  monuments  of  the  literature  of 
Babylonia  and  Assyria. 

Then  the  lord  took  the  flood,  his  mighty  weapon, 
50  He  mounted  the  chariot,  the  storm  incomparable,  the 
terrible. 
He  harnessed  four  horses  and  yoked  them  to  it, 
Destructive,  pitiless,  overwhelming,  swift. 

Some  of  the  broken  lines  I  now  omit;  the 
splendid  sweep  of  the  onset  is  better  without 
them,  and  nothing  essential  to  the  narrative 
disappears. 

With  overpowering  brightness  his  head  was  crowned. 
He  took  his  road,  he  followed  his  path. 
60  Toward  Tiamat,  the  raging,  he  set  his  face. 

Then  they  beheld  him,  the  gods  beheld  him. 
The  gods  his  fathers  beheld  him,  the  gods  beheld  him. 
65  And  the  lord  drew  nigh,  he  gazed  upon  the  inward 
parts  of  Tiamat, 
He  perceived  the  design  of  Kingu,  her  spouse. 
As  he  gazed,  he  was  troubled  in  his  movements, 
His  resolution  was  destroyed,  his  action   was   dis- 
ordered, 
And  the  gods,  his  helpers,  who  marched  by  his  side, 


124      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

70  Beheld  their  leader's  ....  their  vision  was  troubled. 
But  Tiamat  uttered  [a  cry],  she  turned  not  her  neck, 
With  full  hps,  she  held  fast  rebellion. 

She  utters  some  taunt,  not  fully  preserved  for 
us,  and — 

75  Then  the  lord  raised  the  flood,  his  mighty  weapon, 
And  against  Tiamat,  who  was  raging,  he  sent  it  with 

the  words: 
"Thou  hast  made  thyself  great,  thou  hast  exalted 

thyself  on  high. 
And  thy  heart  has  moved  thee  to  call  to  battle 

80 

Thou  hast  exalted  Kingu  to  be  thy  spouse, 

Thou  hast him,  to  issue  decrees  like  Anu, 

thou  hast  followed  after  evil. 

And  against  the  gods  my  fathers  thou  hast  wrought 

evil 
85  When  thou  hast  prepared  thy  army,  hast  girded  on 

thy  weapons. 
Come  on,  I  and  thou,  let  us  join  battle." 
When  Tiamat  heard  these  words, 
She  was  beside  herself,  she  lost  her  reason, 
Tiamat  cried  wild  and  loudly, 
90  She  trembled,  she  shook  to  her  foundations, 
She  recited  an  incantation,  she  uttered  her  spell, 
And  the  gods  of  the  battle  cried  for  their  weapons. 
Then  advanced  Tiamat  and  Marduk,  counselor  of 

the  gods; 
To  the  combat  they  marched,  they  drew  nigh  to 

battle, 
95  The  lord  spread  out  his  net  and  caught  her. 

The  storm  wind  that  was  behind  him,  he  let  loose  in 

her  face. 
When  Tiamat  opened  her  mouth  to  its  widest 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  125 

He  drove  in  the  evil  wind,  that  she  could  not  close 
her  lips. 

The  terrible  winds  filled  her  belly, 
100  And  her  heart  was  taken  from  her,  and  her  mouth 
she  opened  wide. 

He  seized  the  spear  and  tore  her  belly, 

He  cut  her  inward  parts,  he  pierced  her  heart. 

He  made  her  powerless,  he  destroyed  her  life; 

He  cast  down  her  body  and  stood  upon  it. 
105  When  he  had  slain  Tiamat,  the  leader. 

Her  power  was  broken,  her  army  was  scattered. 

And  the  gods,  her  helpers,  who  marched  at  her  side, 

Trembled  and  were  afraid  and  turned  back. 

They  broke  away  to  save  their  lives, 
110  But  they  were  surrounded,  they  could  not  escape. 

He  took  them  captive,  he  broke  their  weapons, 

In  the  net  they  are  cast  down,  they  sat  down, 

The  ....  of  the  world  they  fill  with  cries  of  sorrow. 

And  so  Tiamat  is  utterly  overcome,  and  all  the 
terrible  monsters  so  often  described  are  wholly 
ruined  with  her. 

And  Kingu,  who  had  been  exalted  over  them, 
120  He  conquered,  and  with  the  god  Dugga  he  counted 
him, 

He  took  from  him  the  tablets  of  destiny,  which  be- 
longed not  to  him. 

He  sealed  them  with  a  seal  and  laid  them  in  his  own 
breast. 

Thereby  he  gave  a  token  that  the  right  of  de- 
termining destiny  was  now  to  be  in  the  hand 
of  Marduk,  god  of  Babylon.  And  now  we  are 
drawing  close  to  the  real  story  toward  which 
our  eyes  have  been  turned  from  the  beginning. 


126      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

We  have  come  a  long  course  through  these 
fields  of  mythology;  we  are  now  on  the  very 
verge  of  learning  how  Marduk  created  the 
world. 

After  he  had  conquered  and  cast  down  his  enemies, 
And  had  beaten  down  the  insolent  enemy, 
125  And  had  fully  established  Anshar's  victory  over  the 

enemy, 
And  had  attained  the  will  of  Nudimmud, 
And  over  the  captive  gods  had  made  the  prison  fast, 
Then  he  turned  back  to  Tiamat,  whom  he  had  con- 
quered. 
And  the  lord  stood  upon  the  hinder  parts  of  Tiamat, 
130  With  his  merciless  club  he  broke  her  skull. 
He  cut  through  the  channels  of  her  blood. 
And  he  made  the  North  wind  bear  it  away  to  secret 

places. 
His  fathers  saw,  and  they  rejoiced  and  were  glad, 
Presents  and  gifts  they  brought  unto  him. 
135  Then  the  lord  rested,  he  looked  upon  her  dead  body, 
As  he  divided  the  flesh  of  the he  devised  a 

cunning  plan. 
He  split  her  open  like  a  flat  fish  into  two  halves ; 
One  half  of  her  he  estabhshed  as  a  covering  for 

heaven. 
He  fixed  a  bolt,  he  stationed  a  watchman. 
140  He  commanded  them  not  to  let  her  waters  come  forth. 
He  passed  through  the  heavens,  he  considered  its 

regions. 
And  over  against  the  Deep,  he  placed  the  dwelling  of 

Nudimmud, 
And  the  lord  measured  the  construction  of  the  Deep, 
And  he  founded  E-sharra,  a  mansion  like  unto  it. 
145  The  mansion  E-sharra  which  he  built  like  heaven. 
He  caused  Anu,  Bel,  and  Ea  to  inhabit  in  their  districts 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  127 

Here  have  we  the  account  of  the  making  of  the 
big  blue  vault  which  still  stretches  above  our 
head.  It  is  made  of  one  half  of  the  carcass  of 
Tiamat,  flattened  like  a  flat  fish.  This  is  con- 
ceived as  a  great  soHd  body — a  firmament, 
whose  chief  purpose  is  to  retain  the  great 
mass  of  waters  of  the  heavenly  ocean.  A 
watchman  stands  guard  at  the  door  which  bolts 
in  "the  waters  that  were  above  the  heavens." 
In  this  heaven  Marduk  builds  a  mansion, 
E-sharra,  and  there  Anu  and  Bel  have  their 
assigned  place,  while  corresponding  to  that  in 
the  great  watery  world  Ea  has  his  place,  and 
chaos  is  gone  forever. 

The  fifth  tablet  begins  with  the  creation  of 
the  great  heavenly  bodies,  but  is  so  sadly  frag- 
mentary that  we  can  have  little  satisfaction  in 
it.  By  the  irony  of  fate,  it  seems  to  be  the  tablet 
which  we  should  most  have  liked  to  have  com- 
plete, for  in  it  there  was  most  probably  the 
account  of  the  creation  of  vegetation  and  of 
the  animal  world.  It  would  be  of  surpassing 
interest  to  know  what  the  Babylonian  priests 
had  to  tell  of  the  origin  of  earth  and  its  green 
carpet  and  its  wondrous  company  of  beasts  and 
birds.  But  all  this  has  been  lost  out  of  the  nar- 
rative, and  we  shall  have  to  wait  and  hope  that 
some  day  and  somewhere  a  duplicate  of  the  fifth 
tablet  may  be  found  to  supply  this  great  lack. 
To-day  it  is  possible  only  to  give  a  little  piece  of 
this  tablet,  which  tells  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 


128      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

THE    FIFTH    TABLET 

He  [that  is,  Marduk]  made  the  stations  for  the  great 

gods; 
The  stars,  hke  them,  as  the  lumashi^  he  fixed. 
He  ordained  the  year,  he  marked  off  its  sections, 
For  the  twelve  months  he  fixed  three  stars. 
5  After  he  had  fashioned  images  for  the  days  of  the 

year, 
He  founded  the  station  of  Nibir  [that  is,  Jupiter],  to 

determine  their  bounds; 
That  none  might  err  or  go  astray. 
He  set  the  station  of  Bel  and  Ea  by  his  side. 
He  opened  gates  on  both  sides, 
10  He  made  strong  the  bolt  on  the  left  and  on  the  right, 
In  the  midst  thereof  he  fixed  the  zenith; 
The  moon  god  he  caused  to  shine  forth,  to  him  con- 
fided the  night. 
He  appointed  him  a  being  of  the  night,  to  determine 

the  days; 
Every  month,  without  ceasing,  like  a  crown  he  made 

him,  saying, 
15  "At  the  beginning  of  the  month,  when  thou  shinest 

on  the  land 
Thou  shalt  show  the  horns,  to  determine  six  days, 
And  on  the  seventh  day  thou  shalt  divide  the  crown 

in  two. 
On  the  fourteenth  day,  thou  shalt  reach  the  half  .  .  . 

The  rest  of  the  tablet  is  too  broken  to  be  intel- 


1  The  word  lumashi  in  the  astronomical  texts  designates  a  series  of 
seven  stars.  There  is  a  very  pretty  controversy  as  to  the  meaning  and 
identification  of  these  stars.  Oppert  translates  spheres;  Sayce,  "twin 
stars,  literally,  twin  oxen,"  and  explains  that  "seven  of  them  were 
reckoned."  Zimmern  says  that  they  were  not  identical  with  the  signs 
of  the  Zodiac.  Delitzsch  does  not  commit  himself,  and  King  translates 
"Zodiac."  Jeremias  in  Das  Alte  Testament  im  Lichte  des  alien  Orients, 
p.  27,  translates  it  Tierkreisbilder,  while  in  his  later  brochure  (Das  Alter 


Obverse 


PiF.  VERSE 

FIGURE  IX.— THE   FIFTH  TABLET  OF  CREATION 
British  Museum 
Size  of  the  original,  2?^  by  \\  inches 


Reverse 

FIGURE  X.--THE  SIXTH  TABLET  OF  CREATION 

British  Museum,  No.  92,629 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  129 

ligible,  save  for  a  few  lines  which  are  not  im- 
portant for  our  purpose. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  creation  of  man, 
which  is  ascribed  to  the  desire  of  the  gods  to 
have  worshipers.  It  is  Marduk  also  who  is  the 
creator  of  men. 

THE    SIXTH    TABLET 

When  Marduk  heard  the  word  of  the  gods, 

His  heart  moved  him  and  he  devised  a  cunning  plan. 

He  opened  his  mouth  and  unto  Ea  he  spoke, 

That  which  he  had  conceived  in  his  heart,  he  made 

known  unto  him: 
5  "My  blood  will  I  take  and  bone  will  I  fashion, 

I  shall  make  man  that  man  may 

I  shall  create  man  who  shall  inhabit  [the  earth]. 
Let  the  worship  of  the  gods  be  established,  let  their 

shrines  be  [built]. 
But  I  shall  transform  the  ways  of  the  gods,  and  I 

shall  change  their  paths. 
10  Together  shall  they  be  honored,  and  unto  evil  shall 

[they]  .... 

The  rest  of  the  tablet  is  broken  and  lost,  save 
for  a  few  lines  at  the  end  in  which  the  gods  re- 
ceive the  victorious  Marduk. 

The  seventh  tablet  is  wholly  given  up  to  the 
honoring  and  worshiping  of  Marduk  by  gods 
and  men  alike.    It  begins  thus: 


der  babylonischen  Astronomic,  p.  28)  he  renders  Mashigestime.  This 
illustrates  the  doubtfulness  of  the  word  itself,  and  shows  how  uncertain 
is  the  whole  astrological  scheme  of  Winckler  and  Jeremias.  It  is  a 
small  point,  indeed,  but  an  instructive  one. 


130      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

THE    SEVENTH    TABLET 

O  Asari,  Bestower  of  fruitfulness,  [Founder  of  agricul- 
ture], 

Thou  who  didst  create  grain  and  plants,  who  caused  [the 
green  herb  to  spring  up], 

Then  come  lines  in  wliich  he  is  hailed  as  the  one 
who  sets  forth  the  decrees  of  Ann,  Bel,  and  Ea, 
that  is,  he  has  been  promoted  to  the  places  which 
they  have  occupied : 

14  No  one  among  the  gods  can  rival  him 

18  Never  shall  his  deeds  be  forgotten  among  men 

112  He  conquered  Tiamat,  he  troubled  and  ended  her 

life. 
In  the  future  of  mankind,  in  the  aged  days, 
May  this  be  heard  without  ceasing,  may  it  endure 

forever. 
115  Since  he  created  the  heaven  and  made  the  earth, 
"The  Lord  of  the  world,"  his  father  Bel  called  his 

name. 
The  names  which  all  the  Igigi  did  name, 
Ea  heard  and  his  heart  was  rejoiced  [and  he  said]: 
"He  whose  name  his  fathers  have  magnified 
120  Shall  be  even  as  I,  his  name  shall  be  Ea. 
The  whole  of  my  orders  shall  he  control, 
The  whole  of  my  commands  shall  he  pronounce  f 
By  the  name  of  Fifty  did  the  great  gods 
Make  known  his  fifty  names,  they  made  his  path 

lofty. 
125  Let  them  be  held  in  remembrance,  and  let  the  first 

man  make  them  known. 
The  wise  and  the  understanding  shall  consider  them 

together. 


Obveiise 


i;K\  i;J!SK 

FIGUUE  XL— THE  SEVENTH  TABLET  OF  CREATION 

British  Museum,  K.  8522 

Size  of  tlie  original,  31  bs'  2V  inches 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  131 

The  father  shall  repeat  them  and  teach  them  to  his 

son; 
They  shall  be  in  the  ear  of  the  shepherd  and  the  sheep 

driver. 
Let  man  rejoice  in  Marduk,  the  lord  of  the  gods, 
130  That  he  may  make  his  land  fertile,  and  that  he  may 
have  prosperity. 
His  word  is  established,  his  command  is  unchange- 
able 
The  word  of  his  mouth,  no  god  hath  annulled. 
When  he  looketh  in  anger,  he  turns  not  his  neck; 
When  he  is  wroth,  no  god  can  face  his  indignation. 
135  Wide  is  his  heart,  broad  is  his  compassion; 

The  sinner  and  the  evil  doer  in  his  presence 

They  received  instruction,  they  spoke  before  him 

And  so  the  last  words  are  broken  off  and  we 
hear  no  more  of  Marduk's  glories.  So  ends  the 
great  Babylonian  story  of  the  creation,  en- 
shrined in  a  long  series  of  myths,  built  up  and 
edited  and  changed  so  that  the  elder  gods  of 
an  ancient  folk  might  give  way  before  the  ris- 
ing Marduk,  whose  people  were  daily  waxing 
greater.  It  is  in  a  sense  a  great  political  treatise, 
yet  also  is  it  religious.  The  hearts  of  men 
yearned  over  these  things;  we  can  feel,  if  we 
have  a  bit  of  that  spiritual  consciousness  that 
never  wholly  leaves  the  world,  the  throb  of  a 
spiritual  struggle  after  God,  and  not  merely  an 
ignoble  strife  after  post  and  preference  for  a 
deity.  In  the  ultimate  issue  man  is  represented 
as  created  in  order  that  he  may  worship  the 
gods;  so  did  the  Babylonians  recognize  man's 


132       RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

insatiable  thirst  for  worship,  man's  yearning 
for  a  tie  to  bind  him  back  to  God,  man's  un- 
conquerable will  to  be  religious.  And  it  seems 
often  enough  in  human  history  as  though  the 
theory  of  these  old  Babylonian  priests  was  not 
so  irrational,  but  as  wise  as  many  a  more  boast- 
ful philosophical  or  theological  hypothesis  con- 
cerning man's  nature. 

We  have  been  dealing  with  this  great  creation 
story  as  Babylonian  in  origin;  we  have  been 
thinking  of  its  present  form  as  an  expression  of 
the  religious  faith  and  the  theological  thinking 
of  Babylon.  But  we  must  take  a  far  wider 
view  than  this.  Every  day  that  passes  makes 
it  more  plain  that  the  Babylonians  influenced 
their  neighbors,  as,  indeed,  all  peoples  have 
done  and  are  ever  doing.  And  even  though  we 
deny  the  modern  theorj^,  now  widely  though 
happily  not  universally  accepted,  which  finds 
in  Babylon  the  origins  of  nearly  every  idea  or 
custom,  whether  of  political,  social,  or  religious 
life,  yet  nevertheless  this  fact  does  remain  in- 
disputable, that  Babylonian  ideas  did  find  wide 
currency  in  the  ancient  world.  Just  as  that 
cumbrous  script,  invented  by  Sumerians,  im- 
proved here  and  there  by  Semites,  swept  far 
and  near  to  be  used  by  Chaldians,  Elamites, 
and  others  wherewith  to  write  diverse  languages, 
so  the  baggage  of  many  Babylonian  thinkers 
went  traveling  over  deserts  on  camel-back 
even  to  the  blue  waters  of  the  Mediterranean. 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  133 

It  would  be  surprising  indeed  if  some  of 
these  speculations  did  not  come  into  the  ears 
of  the  prophets,  poets,  and  wise  men  of  Israel. 
But  they  did  come,  and  it  is  well  worth  while 
to  inquire  how  they  were  received,  and  how 
the  Hebrews  were  able  to  use  their  life  and 
color  as  media  for  the  conveying  of  a  far  greater 
spiritual  message.  At  first  blush  we  might 
expect  to  find  the  most  patent  influence  of 
this  Babylonian  creation  story  in  the  Hebrew 
creation  stories  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  but  ex- 
actly the  opposite  is  the  case.  The  prophets  and 
poets  it  is  who  show  us  most  clearly  the  echoes 
of  Babylonian  religion  and  m3^hology  amid 
the  limestone  hills  of  Palestine.  We  shall  do 
well  to  examine  at  least  a  few  passages  in  which 
are  to  be  discerned  these  same  Babylonian 
thoughts  as  have  just  passed  in  stately  review 
before  us.  Here  is  a  passage  in  the  Psalter  in 
which  we  can  discern  quite  plainly  the  influence 
of  the  Babylonian  creation  story  :^ 

O  Jehovah  God  of  hosts, 

Who  is  a  mighty  one,  Hke  unto  thee,  O  Jehovah? 


»  The  credit  of  first  discussing  some  of  these  interesting  parallels  be- 
longs to  Gimkel  {Schdpfung  und  Chaos  in  Urzeit  und  Endzeit.  Eine  re- 
ligionsgeschiehtliche  Untersuchung  liber  Gen.  1  und  Ap.  Joh.  12,  von 
Hermann  Gunkel.  Mit  Beitragen  von  Heinrich  Zimmern.  Gottingen, 
1895),  whose  book  has  been  extraordinarily  fruitful.  The  following  may 
also  be  compared:  Zimmern,  Bihlische  und  babylonische  Urgeschichte, 
Leipzig,  1901,  translated  into  English  imder  the  title.  The  Babylonian 
and  the  Hebrew  Genesis.  London,  1901.  See  further  W.  O.  E.  Oesterly, 
The  Evolution  of  the  Messianic  Idea.  London  and  New  York,  1908. 
This  is  a  very  suggestive  book,  and  came  first  to  my  hands  after  these 
lectures  were  in  type. 


134      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

And  thy  faithfulness  is  round  about  thee. 

Thou  rulest  the  pride  of  the  sea: 

When  the  waves  thereof  arise,  thou  stillest  them. 

Thou  hast  broken  Rahab  in  pieces,  as  one  that  is  slain; 

Thou  hast  scattered  thine  enemies  with  the  arm  of  thy 

strength. 
The  heavens  are  thine,  the  earth  also  is  thine: 
The  world  and  the  fullness  thereof,  thou  hast  founded 

them. 
The  north  and  the  south,  thou  hast  created  them. 

(Psa.  89.  8-12.) 

This  poet  has  heard  of  Tiamat  and  her  story. 
Here  Tiamat  is  called  Rahab,  and  it  is  not  Mar- 
duk,  but  Jehovah,  who  has  slain  her.  Just  as 
the  elder  Bel,  or  EUil,  was  displaced,  as  we 
have  seen  by  Marduk,  so  here  Marduk  is  dis- 
placed by  Jehovah.  He  has  ''broken  Rahab  in 
pieces" — nay,  more,  he  has  scattered  his  ene- 
mies, that  is,  the  helpers  of  Rahab.  And  then, 
then,  after  he  has  defeated  Rahab,  he  creates 
the  world.  It  is  certainly  the  Babylonian  Tia- 
mat and  Marduk  story  which  this  poet  has  in 
his  mind  and  is  using  poetically  to  glorify 
Jehovah.  And  be  it  observed  he  is  following 
exactly  the  same  order  of  progression  as  we 
have  just  seen  in  the  Babylonian  story — first 
the  conflict,  then  the  creation. 

The  great  poet,  the  supremely  great  poet, 
who  wrote  the  book  of  Job  also  knows  of  these 
myths  and  knows  well  how  to  use  them.  Hear 
him  as  he  describes  the  mighty  works  of  Je- 
hovah : 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  135 

He  stirreth  up  the  sea  with  his  power, 

And  by  his  understanding  he  smiteth  through  Rahab. 

By  his  Spirit  the  heavens  are  garnished; 

His  hand  hath  pierced  the  swift  serpent. 

(Job  26.  12,  13.) 

Here  is  the  same  idea  exactly,  and  again  the 
same  poet  sounds  the  same  motive  in  the  fine 

words : 

God  will  not  withdraw  his  anger; 

The  helpers  of  Rahab  do  stoop  under  him. 

(Job  9.  13.) 

In  other  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  the  part 
here  played  by  Rahab  is  ascribed  to  the  serpent, 
without  the  mention  of  any  name,  or  to  levia- 
than. Thus  the  great  prophet  Amos  has  heard 
these  stories,  and  can  make  to  them  a  passing 
allusion  as  he  deals  with  big  questions  of  right- 
eousness.   The  sinners  shall  not  escape: 

Though  they  hide  themselves  in  the  top  of  Carmel,  I 
will  search  and  take  them  out  thence;  and  though  they 
be  hid  from  my  sight  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  thence 
will  I  command  the  serpent,  and  it  shall  bite  them. 
(Amos  9.  3.) 

And  in  a  fine  passage  in  the  Psalter  leviathan  is 
plainly  enough  the  figure  of  Tiamat: 

Yet  God  is  my  King  of  old, 
Working  salvation  in  the  midst  of  the  earth. 
Thou  didst  divide  the  sea  by  thy  strength: 
Thou  brakest  the  heads  of  the  sea  monsters  in  the  waters. 
Thou  brakest  the  heads  of  leviathan  in  pieces ; 
Thou  gavest  him  to  be  food  to  the  people  inhabiting  the 
wilderness. 


136      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Thou  didst  cleave  fountain  and  flood: 

Thou  driedst  up  mighty  rivers. 

The  day  is  thine,  the  night  also  is  thine : 

Thou  hast  prepared  the  light  and  the  sun. 

Thou  hast  set  all  the  borders  of  the  earth: 

Thou  hast  made  summer  and  winter.    (Psa.  74.  12-17.) 

Here  is  proof  enough  that  these  Babylonian 
myths  were  in  current  circulation  in  Israel,  and 
that  poets  and  prophets  knew  how  to  adorn 
their  message  with  them.  But  we  have  also 
the  most  abundant  proof  that  these  Babylonian 
mythological  ideas  had  passed  over  Canaan  be- 
fore Israel  entered  its  coasts.  The  famous  col- 
lection of  Tell-el-Amarna  letters,  discovered  in 
Egypt  in  1887,  which  formed  a  part  of  the 
correspondence  of  Egyptian  kings  about  1400 
B.C.,  were  written  in  the  Babylonian  script,  and 
many  of  them  in  various  cities  of  Palestine, 
Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Philistia.  Among  these 
were  some  legends,^  which  thus  bring  the 
clearest  evidence  that  the  Babylonian  mytho- 
logical influence  spread  as  widely  as  commerce 
and  letters.  ^Vhen  Israel  entered  the  land  all 
these  ideas  were  a  part  of  the  mental  possession 
of  the  people.  They  were  there  ready  and 
waiting  to  be  absorbed  by  Israel.  Whatever 
influence  they  had  upon  Israel's  religious  or 
social  thinking  was  then,  in  that  early  day, 
exerted.  The  idea  that  Israel  absorbed  these 
things  during  the  exile  can  no  longer  seriously 

1  See  p.  187. 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  137 

be  maintained.  Centuries  before  the  exile  they 
had  passed  through  the  minds  of  Israel's  leaders, 
had  been  sifted,  rejected  as  valueless  for  the 
greater  part,  but  in  some  big  places  kept  as  the 
media  for  the  expression  of  a  more  spiritual 
faith. 

We  must  come  now  to  see  what  influence  was 
exerted  by  the  Babylonian  creation  story  upon 
the  noble  creation  story  in  Gen.  1.  1 — 2.  4a.  At 
the  very  beginning  George  Smith  saw  that  some 
relationship  existed,  and  no  serious  attempt  to 
deny  the  palpable  fact  has  ever  been  made.  It 
must  be  evident  to  every  student  that  the  He- 
brew priests  knew  the  Babylonian  story,  that 
all  its  mythological  material  lay  in  the  back  of 
their  minds,  and  that  it  was  deliberately  re- 
jected when  they  wrote  this  beautiful  story. 
An  examination  of  the  Babylonian  and  Hebrew 
narratives  will  show  very  plainly  their  re- 
semblances and  differences. 

According  to  each  account  there  existed  a 
watery  chaos  before  the  work  of  creation  began. 
In  this  chaos  dwelt  a  monster  Tiamat,  per- 
sonifying chaos  and  confusion.  In  the  Hel^rew 
account  the  word  tehom  occurs,  translated 
'^deep"  in  Gen.  1.  2,  and  this  word  tehom  is 
identically  the  same  word  as  tiamat,  changed 
only  slightly  in  passing  from  one  language  to 
the  other.  But  in  the  Hebrew  account  it  is 
stripped  of  mythical  personality.  It  is  the 
''deep''  and  not  a  sea  monster.    The  poets  and 


138      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

prophets  might  use  tiamat  as  Rahab  or  levia- 
than for  color,  as  we  use  CaUban  or  Prospero, 
but  the  religion  of  Israel  eliminated  these  myths 
as  unsuited  to  its  spiritual  message.  But  we 
proceed  further. 

In  the  Hebrew  narrative  the  first  act  of  crea- 
tion is  the  making  of  light  (Gen.  1.  3-5),  but  in 
the  Babylonian  story  day  and  night  seem  to  be 
conceived  as  already  existing  when  Apsu  re- 
volted, so  that  the  two  are  here  in  agreement. 

The  second  act  of  creation  is  the  making  of 
the  firmament  which  ' 'divided  the  waters  which 
were  under  the  firmament  from  the  waters 
which  were  above  the  firmament"  (Gen.  1. 
6-8).  In  the  Babylonian  poem  the  body  of 
Tiamat  is  divided  and  one  half  becomes  the 
firmament  to  keep  the  heavenly  waters  in 
place. 

The  third  and  fourth  acts  of  creation  in.  the 
Hebrew  story  are  the  creation  of  earth  and  of 
vegetation  (Gen.  1.  9-13).  The  corresponding 
Babylonian  story  has  been  lost,  but  it  seems 
quite  probable  that  these  were  described,  in  the 
same  order,  on  the  fifth  tablet.  Berosus,  in  his 
sununary,  says  that  Bel  formed  the  earth  out  of 
one  half  of  Omorka's^  body,  and  as  in  every 
instance  where  we  can  test  his  narrative  it  has 
proved  to  be  correct,  we  have  just  ground  for 


1  The  name  Omorka  ( 0/u6pKa)  is  almost  certainly  a  corruption  of 
Ummu-Khubur,  the  "Mother  Khubur,"  which  is  a  title  of  Tiamat.  See 
First  Tablet,  line  113,  p.  112. 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  139 

believing  that  it  is  correct  in  this  also.  More- 
over, at  the  very  beginning  of  the  seventh 
tablet  Marduk  is  hailed  as  '^bestower  of  fruit- 
fulness/'  "founder  of  agriculture,"  ' 'creator  of 
grain  and  plants,"  he  "who  caused  the  green 
herb  to  spring  up." 

The  fifth  act  of  creation  is  the  making  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  (Gen.  1.  14-19),  and  with  this 
the  parallel  is  very  close  indeed.  To  the  sixth 
and  seventh  acts  of  creation  (Gen.  1.  20-25) 
the  Babylonian  parallels  are  wanting,  but 
Berosus  gives  us  the  hint  that  they  were  created 
at  the  same  time  as  man,  so  that  it  is  probable 
that  this  story  appeared  somewhere  in  the  lost 
portions  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  tablet. 

The  eighth  act  of  creation,  the  capstone  of 
the  whole  (Gen.  1.  26-31),  finds  its  parallel  clear 
and  plain  upon  the  sixth  tablet. 

The  order  of  the  separate  acts  of  creation  is 
indeed  not  quite  the  same  in  the  two  accounts; 
for  example,  the  creation  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
follows  immediately  upon  the  making  of  the 
firmament  in  the  Babylonian  story,  while  in 
the  Hebrew  it  follows  the  making  of  the  earth 
and  its  vegetation. 

How  great  are  these  resemblances!  It  is 
quite  impossible  to  suppose  that  they  are  due 
to  chance.  These  two  stories  did  not  arise 
separately  in  Babylonia  and  in  Israel.  The  Baby- 
lonian story  is  the  older  by  centuries,  and  upon 
it  the  Hebrew  story  was  founded.     When  the 


140      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Babylonian  narrative  passed  over  to  the  He- 
brews it  is  no  longer  possible  to  determine,  but 
it  was  surely  soon  after  the  invasion  of  Canaan 
or  earlier. 

But  great  as  are  the  resemblances  which  bind 
these  two  narratives  together,  the  differences 
are  far  greater  and  more  important.  The  sober- 
ness, the  dignity,  the  simplicity  of  the  Hebrew 
account  lift  it  far  above  its  ancient  exemplar. 
From  it  the  crude  nature  myths  have  all  been 
stripped  away;  no  drunken  gods  hold  revels  in 
its  solemn  lines.  But  above  even  this  stands 
monotheism.  Alone  and  lonesome  is  this  God 
whom  the  Hebrews  knew.  Hard  and  long  was 
the  struggle  upward  into  this  great  faith. 
From  the  days  of  Moses  to  the  days  of  Jeremiah 
the  charm  of  polytheism  held  many  a  goodly 
spirit  in  Israel,  but  the  great  truth  was  latent, 
fighting  its  way  to  a  supremacy  which  should 
here  in  Genesis  find  positive  acknowledgment. 
To  that  lofty  faith  the  Babylonians  never  came. 
This  great  glory  belongs  to  Israel.  Beyond  the 
limits  of  her  realm  no  other  folk  had  attained 
this  lofty  preeminence.  No  other  people  brought 
forth  prophets  to  preach,  or  priests  to  teach, 
this  truth.  Whence  came  this  superiority?  I 
can  find  no  origin  for  it  but  in  a  personal  revela- 
tion of  God  in  human  history.  It  was  he  who 
made  himself  known  to  the  Hebrew  people 
through  their  prophets,  and  through  their  liv- 
ing experience  of  him  in  their  history.    He  had 


THE  COSMOLOGIES  141 

indeed  not  left  himself  without  a  witness  in 
Babylonia,  but  the  revelation  to  Israel  lifted 
her  thinking  to  heights  unknown  before.  The 
foundations  upon  which  this  revelation  rested 
are  to  be  discerned,  in  some  part,  in  the  religion 
of  the  Babylonians,  for  it  was  out  of  this  circle 
of  influences  that  the  beginnings  of  Israel's 
conscious  thinking  about  the  work  of  creation 
came.  We  shall  do  well  not  to  despise  the  day 
of  these  lesser  things,  but  we  must  not  fail  to 
see  clearly  the  larger  things  which  came  through 
Israel  to  the  world.  The  Babylonian  creation 
stories  remained  mere  stories  unrelated  to  any 
large  purpose.  In  Israel,  on  the  other  hand, 
these  stories  are  related  to  a  great  system  of 
religious  thinking  with  a  noble  beginning  and 
a  still  nobler  goal.  The  story  of  man's  creation 
in  the  image  of  God  rests  not  there,  but  moves 
forward  to  the  story  of  man's  fall  from  his  high 
estate  and  to  the  voices  of  the  prophet's  calling 
in  God's  name  for  him  to  turn  from  his  unright- 
eousness and  live.  It  was,  therefore,  not  merely 
monotheism  which  Israel  had  here  to  teach, 
great  a  message  as  that  is.  It  is  ethical  mono- 
theism. Not  a  God  who  is  alone  and  apart, 
but  a  God  who  is  in  ethical  relationship  with 
his  creatures,  is  here  revealed.  Our  acquaint- 
ance with  this  great  idea  makes  it  almost  a 
commonplace.  We  are  scarcely  able  to  realize 
how  great  it  is.  It  is,  in  truth,  the  greatest 
thought  that  the  ancient  Orient  ever  learned. 


LECTURE  IV 

THE  SACRED  BOOKS 

Which  is  the  more  essential  possession  for  a 
religion — a  priesthood,  or  a  sacred  book?  Nearly 
all  religions  have  both.  The  priest,  this  inter- 
esting figure  who  stands  mediating  between 
God  and  men,  now  offers  sacrifices  for  the 
washing  away  of  guilt,  and  again  makes  de- 
cisions in  weighty  matters  which  had  vexed 
the  souls  of  men.  In  almost  every  religion  he 
seems  the  indispensable  figure,  as  though  with- 
out him  not  only  would  the  cultus  be  impossible, 
but  the  very  faith  itself  would  disappear.  But 
one  of  the  greatest  of  all  religions  disproves  this 
contention  entirely.  In  any  enumeration  of  the 
religions  of  humanity  Mohammedanism  would 
hold  a  high  place,  and  Mohammedanism  has  no 
priest,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  nor  ever 
has  had.  Yet  it  still  sweeps  with  conquering 
might  over  valley  and  plain  in  the  vast  con- 
tinent of  Africa,  and  its  missionary  spirit  ex- 
ceeds that  of  all  faiths  save  one  only. 

No,  the  priest  is  not  indispensable;  a  re- 
ligion may  Kve  and  grow  and  propagate  vic- 
toriously its  ideas  without  a  priest.  But  where 
is  the  religion  without  a  sacred  book  of  some 

142 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  143 

sort?  The  religions  of  Egypt  have  their  sacred 
books,  and  some  of  them  full  of  yearning  for 
God  and  the  life  beyond  the  grave.  Their  pos- 
session of  a  great  organized  and  learned  priest- 
hood did  not  free  them  from  the  greater  need 
of  the  book.  The  need  of  a  sacred  book  is 
indeed  far  greater.  The  priesthood  varies  with 
the  flight  of  time,  the  priest  dies  and  his  suc- 
cessor follows  not  in  his  footsteps,  but  turns 
aside  to  some  new  doctrine  or  cultus,  but  the 
sacred  book  abides,  an  anchor  to  the  drifting 
ship  of  faith;  a  foundation  sure  and  steadfast 
upon  which  the  temple  and  its  worship  may 
be  erected.  A  religion  may  endure  without  a 
priest,  but  history  affords  no  instance  of  a  re- 
ligion without  a  sacred  book. 

The  Babylonians  had  their  sacred  books;  in 
fact,  they  had  little  else  in  literature.^  The 
reUgious  literature  which  has  come  down  to  us 
from  the  earliest  times  far  exceeds  in  amount 
any  other  form  of  literature.  Indeed,  Jastrow 
goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  "in  its  beginnings  this 
literature  is  entirely  rehgious."^ 

For  the  purpose  of  our  survey  the  religious 
Hterature  of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  may 
be  divided  into  (a)  Magical  Texts  or  Incanta- 


1  I  am  here,  of  course,  using  the  term  Babylonian  in  the  strict  sense, 
as  excluding  and  not  comprehending  the  Assyrians,  who  had  an  exten- 
sive literature  of  other  kinds. 

2  Hastings's  Bible  Dictionnry,  Extra  Volume,  550,  b.  So  also  he  says 
{Die  Religion  Babyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  267),  "In  gewissera  Sinne  is 
die  gesamte  Literatur  Babyloniens  religios." 


144      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

tions,  (b)  H3rmns  to  the  Gods,  and  (c)  Peniten- 
tial Psalms,  and  in  this  order  do  they  rise  from 
the  low  levels  of  superstitious  incantations  to 
exceedingly  high  levels  of  spiritual  yearning, 
though  scarcely  of  spiritual  attainment,  in  the 
Psalms.  There  is  a  great  spiritual  history  be- 
tween the  first  and  the  last  of  these  forms  of 
literature,  but  the  sad  element  in  it  is  this,  that 
this  spiritual  history  does  not  represent  a 
growth  that  sloughed  off  the  lower  form  as  the 
higher  was  attained.  In  the  history  of  the 
Babylonian  religion  the  lower  continued  a 
vigorous  existence  all  the  way  to  the  end.  Our 
knowledge,  indeed,  of  the  whole  of  the  litera- 
ture is  chiefly  derived  from  the  hbrary  of 
Ashurbanipal ;  and  the  fact  that  in  his  library 
the  grossest  forms  of  superstition  were  as  care- 
fully copied  and  as  sacredly  preserved  as  the 
very  noblest  and  most  beautiful  aspirations 
after  God  is  eloquent  of  the  persistence  of  the 
lower  with  the  higher. 

THE   MAGICAL   OR   INCANTATION   TEXTS 

"-  The  gods  of  Babylonia  and  Assjo^ia  were 
everywhere  approached  by  men  for  positive 
and  for  negative  influences.  They  were  desired 
to  grant  those  blessings,  to  give  those  helps 
without  which  man  could  not  attain  his  highest 
happiness,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  were 
desired  to  remove  the  sorrows,  griefs,  afflictions, 
and  especially  ill  health,  which  bulk  so  largely 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  145 

in  individual  and  in  national  life.  For  these  two 
great  boons,  for  help  or  for  succor,  men  prayed 
to  the  gods,  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  sang  their 
praises,  or  wept  in  despair  when  the  gods  heard 
not  or  postponed  their  answer.  But  the  Babyf 
lonians  did  not  think  that  the  aid  of  the  gods 
was  to  be  expected  in  all  sorts  of  little  things. 
The  gods  had  a  general  surveillance  over  life  and 
history,  but  beneath  their  realm  of  influence 
lay  a  great  world  of  minor  powers,  which  we  may 
call  demons,  or  evil  spirits.  These  demons  were 
everywhere,  they  lurked  in  every  corner,  watch- 
ing for  their  prey.  The  city  streets  knew  their 
malevolent  presence,  the  rivers,  the  seas,  the 
tops  of  mountains;  they  appeared  sometimes  as 
serpents  gliding  noiselessly  upon  their  victims, 
as  birds  horrid  of  mien  flying  resistlessly  to  de- 
stroy or  afflict,  as  beings  in  human  form,  gro- 
tesque, malformed,  awe-inspiring  through  their 
hideousness.  To  these  demons  all  sorts  of  mis- 
fortune were  ascribed — a  toothache,  a  headache, 
a  broken  bone,  a  raging  fever,  an  outburst  of 
anger,  of  jealousy,  of  incomprehensible  disease. 
Did  a  man  he  wasting  of  disease  and  torn  of 
pain,  a  demon  was  within  him,  and  the  disease 
was  but  the  manifestation  of  his  malevolence. 
There  could  be  no  return  of  the  precious  boon  of 
good  health  until  the  demon  was  exorcised,  and 
it  was  to  the  exorcising  of  demons  that  so  large, 
so  disproportionate,  a  part  of  the  religious  lit- 
erature of  Babylon  and  Nineveh  was  devoted. 


146      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

The  exorcising  of  demons  was  the  duty  of  the 
priests,  who  appealed  to  the  gods  to  drive  them 
out.  The  method  pursued  by  the  priests  was 
in  the  recitation  of  certain  words  or  formulas, 
accompanied  by  symboHcal  rites,  or  by  ablu- 
tions. Great  importance  was  attached  to  specific 
words  or  sets  of  words.  The  test  of  time  was 
supposed  to  have  shown  that  certain  words  were 
efficacious  in  certain  concrete  instances.  If  in 
any  case  failure  resulted  it  could  only  be  ascribed 
to  the  use  of  the  wrong  formula  or  set  of  words. 
Hence  there  grew  up  a  zealous  and  earnest  de- 
termination to  preserve  exactly  the  words  which 
in  some  cases  had  brought  healing,  and  to  keep 
careful  record  of  the  exact  words  then  used. 

The  next  step,  a  perfectly  natural  one,  was  to 
gather  incantations  into  groups  or  rituals,  classi- 
fying them  according  to  purpose  or  use.  Sev- 
eral of  these  incantation  rituals  have  survived, 
and  though  they  are  sad — for  the  agonies  of 
pain-tossed  and  broken-hearted  men  and  women 
cling  to  them  even  yet— they  are  still  of  deep 
interest.  We  seem  in  them  to  touch  closely  a 
vital,  even  though  a  hopeless,  faith.  There  is  a 
melancholy  pleasure  in  turning  over  these  old 
words,  meaningless  at  times,  as  incantations  are 
wont  to  be. 

There  are  now  known  six  distinct  series  of 
these  incantation  rituals:  (1)  Maqlu,  that  is 
"burning,"  which  is  so  called  because  there  are 
in  it  many  symbolical  burnings  of  images  of 


O  I" 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  147 

witches.  This  series  is  used  in  the  deUvering 
of  sufferers  from  witches  or  sorcerers. 
(2)  ShurpUf  another  word  for  ''burning,"  and 
this  series  also  deals  much  in  symbolical  burn- 
ings and  is  used  for  practically  the  same  set  of 
purposes  as  the  former.  (3)  Lahartu,  the  name 
of  a  female  demon  which  exercised  a  baleful 
influence  chiefly  upon  mothers  and  children. 
In  this  series  are  incantations  especially  di- 
rected against  this  class  of  demons.  (4)  Utukku 
limnuti,  evil  demons.  (5)  Ti^u,  head  sickness, 
and  (6)  Ashakku  marsu,  the  Ashakku  sickness. 
It  is  a  sorry  collection  indeed,  but  we  shall  not 
do  justice  to  the  religion  if  we  do  not  see  also 
this  dark  side  of  superstition. 

In  these  incantations  we  make  the  acquaint- 
ance of  a  large  number  of  demons  with  strange 
names,  some  of  which  possess  a  signification 
known  to  us,  while  others  are  hopelessly  dark. 
Among  those  that  we  know  at  least  partially 
are  the  utukku,  a  strong  demon;  the  shedu, 
sometimes  malevolent,  but  more  often  benevo- 
lent, who  stands  by  a  man  and  helps  him  when 
other  demons  pursue;  the  rahisu,  which  means 
one  who  lies  in  wait,  a  demon  that  springs  una- 
wares upon  his  victim ;  the  lahartu,  which  attacks 
women  and  children;  the  labasu,  which  throws 
one  down;  the  akhkhazu,  which  seizes  and  holds 
its  victim;  the  lilu  (night),  the  female  lilitu 
(night),  and  the  ardat  lilt  (maid  of  the  night), 
evil  spirits  which  ply  their  evil  trade  at  night. 


148      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

There  are  scores  of  other  demons  and  evil 
spirits  or  good,  all  of  them  the  remnants  of  the 
old  animistic  ideas  which,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  lie  deep  down  in  the  beginnings  of  the 
Babylonian  religion/  And  now  let  us  turn  to 
some  specimens  of  the  texts  themselves.  Here 
is  a  magical  text: 

The  utukku  of  the  field,  and  the  utukku  of  the  mountain. 
The  utukku  of  the  sea,  and  the  one  that  lurks  in  graves. 
The  evil  shedu,  the  shining  alu, 
The  evil  wind,  the  terrible  wind, 
That  sets  one's  hair  on  end. 

Against  these  the  spirits  of  heaven  and  earth 
are  invoked : 

The  utukku  that  seizes  hold  of  a  man, 
The  ekimmu  that  seizes  hold  of  a  man, 
The  ekimmu  that  works  evil. 
The  utukku  that  works  evil. 

Sickness  of  the  entrails,  of  the  heart,  of  the  head,  of  the 
stomach,  of  the  kidneys,  of  the  limbs,  of  the  muscles,  of 
the  skin. 

This  is  a  wretched  enough  jargon,  surely,  but 
its  very  brevity  does  injustice  to  this  branch  of 
the  religious  literature.  Even  at  the  risk  of 
utter  weariness  we  must  have  before  us  one 
long  text,  complete  as  far  as  it  has  been  pre- 
served, and  for  this  purpose  the  second  tablet 
of  the  Maqlu  series^  will  serve  well: 

»  See  p.  75. 

2  The  text  is  published  by  Tallquist,  Die  Assyrische  Beschworungsserie 
Maqlu,  nach  den  originalen  im  British  Museum  herausgegeben.  1895. 
The  translation  here  given,  while  made  from  the  original,  owes  much  to 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  149 

Incantation.    Nusku,  great  god,  prince  of  the  great  gods, 
Guardian  of  the  offerings  of  all  the  Igigi, 
Founder  of  cities,  restorer  of  shrines, 
Brilhant  day,  whose  command  is  exalted, 
5  Messenger  of  Anu,  who  gives  heed  to  the  decree  of 
Bel, 
Who  gives  heed  to  Bel,  counselor,  rock  of  the  Igigi, 
Powerful  in  battle,  whose  onset  is  mighty, 
Nusku,  the  burner,  who  compels  his  foes. 
Without  thee  no  table  is  prepared  in  the  temple. 
10  Without  thee  the  great  gods  smell  no  savor  of  sac- 
rifice. 
Without  thee  Shamash,   the  judge,  pronounces  no 
judgment. 

Wise  one 

I,  thy  servant  So  and  So,  the  son  of  So  and  So,  whose 

god  is  So  and  So,  whose  goddess  is  So  and  So, 
I  turn  to  thee,  I  seek  thee,  lifting  up  my  hands  to 
thee,  I  fall  at  thy  feet. 
15  Burn  the  sorcerer  and  the  sorceress. 

May  the  life  of  my  sorcerer  and  sorceress  be  de- 
stroyed! 
As  for  me,  let  me  live,  that  I  may  make  thy  heart 
glad,  and  that  I  may  humbly  serve  thee! 

Pronounce  the  incantation  in  a  whisper.    Have  an  image 
of  wax  (?)  therewith. 

Incantation.    O  fire  god,  perfect  lord,  thou  makest  thy 
name  known, 
20  God  Nannar,  thou everything. 


the  work  of  Tallquist,  without  whose  foundation-laying  it  could  hardly 
have  been  made.  I  have  numbered  the  lines  not  only  to  make  easy  the 
reference  to  the  originals,  but  also  to  give  an  idea  of  the  length  of  the 
whole,  and  to  show  how  much  I  have  omitted.  This  one  series  consists 
of  eight  tablets,  and  according  to  Tallquist 's  reckoning  contained  origi- 
nally about  1,550  lines,  of  which  about  1,200  have  reached  us  in  a  fair 
state  of  preservation. 


150      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Thou  lightest  the  house  of  darkness,  thou 

the  lands, 

Thou  lightest  the  darkness, before  thee  I 

take  my  stand. 

As  thou  art  a  judge  of  judgment. 

Like  Sin  and  Shamash,  thou  givest  judgment, 
25  Pronounce  my  judgment,  decree  my  fate. 

[Several  badly  broken  and  several  missing  lines.] 
35  Now,  in  the  presence  of  thy  great  godhead, 

The  images  in  bronze  [have  I  made], 

The  images  of  my  sorcerer  and  sorceress, 

Of  my  master  and  mistress  in  witchcraft, 

Of  ray  maddeners,  male  and  female, 
40  Of  my  destroyer  and  of  my  destroyeress, 

Of  the  lord  of  my  oppression  and  the  lady  of  my 
oppression. 

And  so  it  runs  on  line  after  line,  exhausting  all 
the  S5nionyms  of  the  language,  lest  some  pos- 
sible form  of  bewitchment  should  be  passed 
over,  and  so  the  very  form  which  had  caused  all 
the  trouble  fail  to  be  reached  by  the  incanta- 
tion. The  worshiper  has  the  image  in  his  hand 
as  he  recites  all  this  formula.  He  now  intends 
to  destroy  it  and  by  the  same  token  to  destroy 
the  evil  demons,  whatever  they  may  be,  which 
it  represents;  so  he  speaks  further: 

Now,  will  I  burn  them  and  singe  them 

Before  thy  great  godhead, 

On  the  bank  of  the  goddess  of  the  river. 

Look  upon  me  graciously,  O  Lord,  tear  these  out  of 

my  body. 
65  Release  their  evil  witchcrafts. 

Thou,  0  fire  god,  art  the  lord,  that  dost  march  at  my 

side. 


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Let  me  live,  that  I  may  make  thy  heart  glad,  that  I 
may  humbly  serve  thee. 

Pronounce  the  incantation  in  a  whisper.    Have  a  bronze 
image  of  the  river  god  therewith. 

Incantation.    O  fire  god,  firstborn  of  Anu, 
70  Thou  art  he  that  givest  judgment,  that  determinest 
fate. 
Thou  lightest  up  the  darkness. 
Into  disorder  and  disturbance  thou  bringest  order. 
To  the  great  gods  thou  givest  fate. 
Like  unto  thee,  no  god  giveth  fate. 
75  Thou  art  he  that  giveth  order  and  command. 
[Several  lines  missing.] 
Now  before  thy  great  divinity, 

With  thy  hand  have  I  made  of  bronze  the  images  of 
the  sorcerer  and  the  sorceress, 
80  Before  thee  have  I  placed  them  and  given  them  into 
thy  charge. 
Let  them  die,  but  let  me  live. 
Let  them  be  under  a  ban,  but  let  me  prosper, 
Let  them  perish,  but  let  me  increase. 
Let  them  become  weak,  but  let  me  wax  strong, 
85  O  fire  god,  mighty,  exalted  among  the  gods. 

Thou  that  conquerest  the  evil  and  the  enemy,  con- 
quer them,  and  I  shall  not  be  destroyed. 
May  I  thy  servant  live,  may  I  remain  secure,  may  I 

stand  before  thy  presence. 
Thou  art  my  god,  thou  art  my  lord. 
Thou  art  my  judge,  thou  art  my  helper, 
90  Thou  art  my  avenger.    Pronounce  the  incantation. 

Pronounce  the  incantation  in  a  whisper.    Have  a  bronze 
image  therewith. 

Incantation.  O  fire  god,  thou  burner,  mighty  son  of  Anu, 
Most  terrible  among  the  gods  thy  brothers  art  thou. 
Who  givest  judgment  like  Sin  and  Shamash. 


152       RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

95  Pronounce  my  judgment,  determine  my  fate, 

Burn  the  sorcerer  and  the  sorceress. 

O  fire  god,  burn  the  sorcerer  and  the  sorceress! 

O  fire  god,  roast  the  sorcerer  and  the  sorceress! 

O  fire  god,  burn  them! 
100  O  fire  god,  roast  them! 

O  fire  god,  overpower  them! 

O  fire  god,  destroy  them! 

O  fire  god,  carry  them  away! 

As  for  those  who  practice  evil  sorcery  and  noxious 
witchcraft, 
105  Who,  with  evil  purpose,  have  plotted  against  me. 

Let  a  strong  being  take  them  away 

....  deprive  them  of  their  property,  and 

Make  the  spoiler  to  lie  down  in  their  camps. 

O  fire  god,  strong,  powerful,  mighty, 
110  In  the  temple,  the  place  of  thy  retreat,  how  long  .  . 

At  the  sacrifice  to  Ea,  thy  begetter the 

brilliant  god. 

Who Pronounce  the  incantation.    . 

Pronounce  the  incantation  in  a  whisper.     Have  a  honey 
image  therewith. 

And  so  the  stupid  incantation  continues,  a 
pathetic  medley  of  nonsense,  without  a  gleam 
of  real  worship,  without  a  moving  spirit  of 
ethical  content.  It  is  all  too  sad,  too  wretched 
and  hopeless.  But  I  must  quote  just  a  httle 
more  of  it.  If  the  person  over  whom  these  sorry 
incantations  are  recited  is  to  get  any  real  free- 
dom the  sorcerer  must  be  so  bound  up  that  he 
cannot  again  afflict  his  victim;  he  must  be  hke- 
wise  afflicted  as  he  has  tortured  the  sufferer. 
Now  let  us  see  how  this  is  to  be  accompUshed : 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  153 

Incantation.    They  have  used  all  sorts  of  charms, 

To  entwine  me  as  with  ropes, 
150  To  overpower  me  as  with  a  bird  snare. 

To  tie  me  as  with  cords. 

To  overpower  me  as  in  a  net, 

To  twist  me  as  with  a  sling, 

To  tear  me  as  a  fabric, 
155  To  fill  me  with  dirty  water  from  a  wall, 

To  tear  me  down  as  a  wall. 

Then  the  exerciser  speaks: 

But  I,  by  command  of  Marduk,  the  lord  of  charms, 

By  Marduk,  the  lord  of  bewitchment. 

Both  the  male  and  the  female  witch, 
160  As  with  ropes  I  will  entwine, 

As  in  a  bird  snare  I  will  entrap. 

As  with  cords  I  will  tie, 

As  in  a  net  I  will  overpower. 

As  in  a  sling  I  will  twist, 
165  As  a  fabric  I  will  tear. 

With  dirty  water  from  a  wall  I  will  fill. 

As  a  wall  I  will  tear  them  down. 

All  these  acts  were  performed  with  a  little  image 
of  bitumen  covered  with  gypsum. 

All  this  would  be  futile  enough,  and  sad  enough 
in  its  utter  hopelessness,  if  it  appeared  very 
early  in  the  history  of  the  religion,  was  then 
outgrown  and  left  by  the  wayside  of  a  faith 
marching  on  to  higher  things.  But  it  is  not  so. 
These  incantations  remained,  full  of  life  and 
vigor,  to  the  very  latest  days.  In  all  religions 
it  must  be  admitted  that  a  big  body  of  the  be- 
lievers lag  far  behind   the   gifted   souls,   who 


154      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

stride  onward  to  distant  heights,  their  spiritual 
guidance  within  showing  them  ever  a  better, 
though  a  narrower,  way.  But  in  Babylonia 
these  things  endured  among  the  leaders  them- 
selves. This  very  tablet,  portions  of  which  I 
have  here  translated,  was  thought  so  important 
that  it  was  carefully  copied  out  for  Ashurbani- 
pal's  library,  not  as  an  interesting  archaeological 
curiosity,  but  as  a  living  thing,  still  potent 
among  men.  At  the  end  of  this  tablet  is  this 
colophon,  eloquent  of  the  persistence  of  this 
sort  of  faith  in  even  that  great  age,  in  the 
seventh  century  before  Christ,  the  very  age  of 
Jeremiah,  preacher  of  a  puissant  monotheism: 

210  The  second  tablet  of  the  Maqlu  series, 

Written  according  to  the  original,  renewed  and  com- 
pared, 
The  Palace  of  Ashurbanipal,  king  of  the  worid,  king 

of  Assyria,  who  puts  his  trust  in  Ashur  and  Belit, 
To  whom  Nabu  and  Tashmetu  have  granted  wide 

open  ears, 
Who  possesses  clear-seeing  eyes  to  honor  the  art  of 

tablet  writing, 
215  Such  as  no  one  of  the  kings  my  predecessors  had 

acquired. 

The  wisdom  of  Nabu 

On  tablets  I  have  written,  inscribed,  compared,  and 
For  my  seeing  and  reading 
Placed  in  my  palace, 
220  I  the  lord,  who  knoweth  the  light  of  Ashur,  king  of 

the  gods, 
Whoever  carries  it  away,  or  inscribes  his  name  with 

mine, 


FIGURE   XIV. -INCANTATION  TABLET,  THE  THIRD  OF  THE 

MAQLU  SERIES 

British  Museum,  K.  2728 

Size  of  the  original,  8i  by  5J  inches 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  155 

May  Ashur  and  Belit  in  anger  and  wrath  overthrow 

him,  and 
Destroy  his  name  and  seed  out  of  the  land. 

No  Assyrian  king  ever  had  so  great  a  desire  to 
know  the  arts  and  letters  and  sciences  of  his 
day  as  had  Ashurbanipal.  The  incantations 
were  stored  away  for  his  eye,  were  to  be  read 
in  the  hearing  of  his  ear,  an  ear  wide  open  for 
the  best.  It  is  testimony  enough  to  their 
endurance. 

Of  all  the  literature  of  incantations  perhaps 
no  single  piece  has  more  human  interest  than 
the  so-called  legend  of  the  worm.  The  worm 
to  which  it  refers  is  the  worm  which  was  sup- 
posed to  cause  toothache,  a  terror  then  and  a 
horror  still  to  many  sons  of  men.  As  befits  a 
worm  with  power  of  torture  so  great,  the  legend 
is  couched  in  truly  cosmogonic  form.  I  dare 
not  pass  it  by,  but  must  quote  it  entire: 

After  Anu  [had  created  the  Heavens] 
The  Heavens  created  [the  Earth], 
The  Earth  created  the  Rivers, 
The  Rivers  created  the  Canals, 
5  The  Canals  created  the  Marshes, 
The  Marshes  created  the  Worm. 
Then  came  the  Worm  to  weep  before  Shamash, 
Before  Ea  came  her  tears: — 
"What  wilt  thou  give  me  for  my  food, 
10  What  wilt  thou  give  me  to  destroy?" 
"I  will  give  thee  dried  bones, 

(And)  scented — wood." 

"What  are  these  dried  bones  to  me. 
And  scented — wood!" 


156      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

15  Let  me  drink  among  the  teeth, 
And  set  me  on  the  gums  (?), 
That  I  may  devour  the  blood  of  the  teeth 
And  of  their  gums  destroy  the  strength; 
Then  shall  I  hold  the  bolt  of  the  door." 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  hfe  history  of  the  worm 
that  causes  the  ache  in  the  tooth;  but  we  are 
now  deahng  with  incantations,  and  the  next 
question  is,  how  to  rid  one's  self  of  the  ache 
and  of  the  worm  which  caused  it.  The  text 
proceeds  to  give  two  methods,  the  one  a  form 
of  words  to  be  pronounced  as  a  prayer  or  incan- 
tation addressed  to  the  god  Ea,  the  other  a 
medicine  to  be  appUed  to  the  tooth  and  accom- 
panied by  the  incantation.  The  text  concludes 
thus : 

So  must  thou  say  this:  "O  Worm! 

May  Ea  smite  thee  with  the  might  of  his  fist." 

INCANTATION  OF  THE  SICK  MOUTH 

25  Thou  shouldst  do  the  following: 

Mix  beer,  the  plant  SA-KIL-BAR,  and  oil  together, 
Repeat  thereon  the  incantation  thrice, 
(And)  put  it  on  his  tooth.  ^ 

If  this  were  the  best  of  the  reUgion  of  Baby- 
lonia and  Assyria  it  would  take  a  low  rank  in- 
deed among  the  faiths  of  mankind.  But  there 
are  higher  things,  and  still  higher,  and  toward 
them  we  must  begin  to  set  our  face. 

1  The  text  is  published  in  transliteration  and  translation  in  R.  Carapbel 
Thompson,  The  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia,  vol.  ii,  pp.  160-163. 
London,  1904.     I  have  followed  his  rendering,  with  but  minor  changes. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  157 

All  this  is  primitive,  resting  down  upon  the 
lower  views  of  divine  and  demoniacal  forces, 
but  into  this  very  class  of  low  incantation  texts, 
in  the  second  tablet  of  the  Shurpu  series,^  there 
breaks  forth  a  long  and  heart-aching  appeal 
with  a  true  ethical  note  in  it.  The  man  who 
makes  it  wishes  to  be  delivered  from  his  afflic- 
tions, but  the  exorciser  first  desires  to  satisfy 
himself  as  to  the  source  of  the  guilt,  or  the 
nature  of  the  sin  which  has  brought  this  afflic- 
tion upon  him.    The  tablet  begins  thus: 

20  Hath  he  set  a  son  at  variance  with  a  father, 
A  father  with  a  son, 
A  daughter  with  a  mother, 
A  mother  with  a  daughter, 
A  daughter-in-law  with  a  mother-in-law, 
25  A  mother-in-law  with  a  daughter-in-law, 
A  brother  with  a  brother, 
A  friend  with  a  friend, 
A  companion  with  a  companion? 
Hath  he  not  set  free  the  prisoner,   or  loosed  the 

captive? 
30  Hath  he  not  let  the  prisoner  see  the  light? 

Hath  he  said  of  a  prisoner,  "Seize  him,"  or  of  a 

bondman,  "Bind  him"? 
Is  it  perchance  a  sin  against  a  god,  or  a  transgression 

against  a  goddess? 
Hath  he  vexed  a  god,  or  despised  a  goddess? 

Some  of  it  is  indeed  more  or  less  tinged  with 

'  Published  in  a  masterly  fashion  by  Zinimern,  Beitrage  zur  Kejintniss 
der  Babylonischen  Religion.  I.  Die  Beschworungsserie  Shurpu.  II.  Rit- 
ualtafeln  fiir  den  Wahrsager,  Beschworer  und  Sanger.  Leipzig,  1896- 
1901.  My  translation  rests  primarily  upon  his  work,  though  I  have 
ventured  to  differ  upon  some  minor  points. 


158      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

the  idea  of  merely  ceremonial  violations  against 
a  god,  but  it  runs  on  again  into  the  true  ethical 
note: 

36  Hath  he  despised  father  or  mother,  or  insulted  an 
elder  sister? 

Hath  he  yielded  in  little  things,  and  refiiised  in  great? 

For  No,  said  Yes? 

For  Yes,  said  No? 
40  Hath  he  spoken  a  word  unsuitable  or  rebelhous? 

Hath  he  spoken  a  coarse  word? 

I  must  not  quote  too  many  of  these  lines,  but 
I  do  wish  to  get  before  us  very  plainly  this 
higher  ethical  movement  in  this  lower  religious 
environment,  and  I  will  therefore  set  down  a 
few  more  lines  taken  from  different  portions  of 
the  same  text,  and  specially  chosen  to  show  the 
very  high  ethical  position: 

42  Hath  he  used  false  weights? 

45  Hath  he  set  up  a  wrong  landmark,  or  failed  to  set  up 
the  right  landmark? 

47  Hath  he  entered  his  neighbor's  house? 

Hath  he  approached  his  neighbor's  wife? 

Hath  he  shed  his  neighbor's  blood? 
50  Hath  he  taken  away  his  neighbor's  garment? 

55  Is  his  mouth  straightforward,  but  his  heart  false? 
Doth  his  mouth  consent,  but  his  heart  deny? 

70  Is  it  because  of  the  grave  misdeed  which  he  hath  done? 
Or  because  of  the  many  sins  which  he  hath  committed? 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  159 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  meaning  of  all 
this.  Here  is  a  fully  developed  theological 
dogma,  which  connects  the  sins  of  a  man 
directly  with  his  misfortunes  or  his  afflictions. 
This  is  the  same  theological  idea  which  fills  so 
large  a  place  in  the  Wisdom  literature  of  the 
Old  Testament.  The  one  great  burden  of  the 
speeches  of  Job's  accusing  friends  is  just  this, 
that  Job  must  have  sinned  grievously  or  he  had 
never  suffered  so  terribly.  Job  himself  has  the 
same  theological  conception,  and  storms  against 
God  for  injustice  in  condemning  him  to  suffer 
when  he  was  conscious  of  no  wrongdoing.  Nay, 
this  same  idea  persists  in  Hebrew  religion  to 
the  end,  and  rings  out  at  last  in  the  urgent 
question  addressed  to  the  Lord,  ''Who  sinned, 
this  man  or  his  parents?" 

From  this  higher  ethical  platform  we  may 
well  take  our  departure  from  the  magical  texts, 
realizing  fully  how  deep  and  strong  is  man's 
ethical  sense  in  all  religions,  and  at  the  same 
time  not  forgetting  the  lower  ideas  with  which 
it  is  often  associated. 

The  religious  literature  of  the  Babylonians 
and  Assyrians,  as  has  already  been  said,  rose 
up  to  a  great  series  of  h3^mns  to  the  gods.  The 
greatest  number  of  these  are  dedicated  to 
Shamash,  the  sun  god,  but  many  of  the  finest 
of  them  all  were  composed  in  honor  of  Sin,  the 
moon  god.  They  have  come  down  to  us  out  of 
almost  all  the  periods  of  the  religious  history 


160      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

of  the  people.  Some  were  composed  in  the  very- 
latest  days,  dm-ing  that  reign  of  Nabodonis, 
when  the  sound  of  Cyrus's  advancing  army- 
could  be  heard  in  the  distance,  and  a  few  go 
back  to  the  days  of  the  old  city  kingdoms.  In- 
deed, that  early  influence  of  the  city  kingdom 
continues  to  the  last.  There  was  no  outburst 
of  faith  from  polytheism  into  monotheism, 
partly,  perhaps,  because  the  local  power  was 
so  intense.  No  city  would  give  up  its  local 
deity  in  order  that  any  other  city,  no  matter 
how  potent  politically,  might  secure  complete 
preeminence  for  its  god.  Babylon  might  strug- 
gle never  so  hard,  in  its  organized  priesthood, 
to  lift  Marduk  to  high  and  ever  higher  position. 
He  still  remained  to  the  very  end  of  the  days 
only  one  god  among  many,  and  the  greatest  of 
the  Babylonian  kings,  Nebuchadrezzar  and 
Nabonidus,  to  the  very  last  vied  with  each 
other  in  paying  honor  to  Shamash  in  Sippar, 
whose  temple  they  continually  rebuilt  and 
adorned  with  ever  greater  magnificence. 

As  I  have  said  before,  the  lower  forms  of 
reHgious  thinking  continued  on  to  the  very 
latest  hour,  and  were  not  driven  out  by  the 
higher.  So  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find 
that  some  of  the  noblest  hymns  were  con- 
temporaneous with  the  most  wretched  and 
contemptible  of  the  magic  formulas.  Indeed, 
some  of  the  hymns  belong  to  the  incantations 
and  are  found  as  mere  preludes  to  a  jumble  of 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  161 

formulas,  intended  to  drive  away  a  fever,  whose 
supposed  potency  resided  in  the  exact  repetition 
of  their  very  words. 

To  understand  the  hjmins  and  prayers  (for 
the  two  run  together,  and  are  sometimes  as 
indistinguishable  as  they  are  in  the  nobler 
Psalter  of  the  Hebrews)  we  shall  do  best  to  turn 
to  the  hymns  themselves,  and  by  long  extracts 
make  their  spirit  and  their  music  vocal  in  the 
mind. 

We  may  well  begin  with  a  prayer,  one  of  the 
earliest  which  has  come  down  to  us,  the  prayer 
of  Lugal-zaggisi  (3500  B.C.).  The  king  ascribes 
his  successes  in  war  to  the  gods,  and  then  bursts 
out  in  this  prayer  to  the  older  Bel  of  Nippur : 

0  En-lil,  the  king  of  the  lands,  may  Ann,  to  his  be- 
loved father  speak  my  prayer;  to  my  life  may  he  add  life, 
and  cause  the  lands  to  dwell  in  security;  may  he  give  me 
warriors  as  many  as  the  grass;  the  herds  of  heaven  may 
he  watch  over;  the  land  with  prosperity  endow;  the  good 
fortune  which  the  gods  have  given  me,  may  he  not  change; 
and  may  I  ever  remain  the  shepherd,  who  standeth  at 
the  head.^ 

Centuries  later  the  great  ruler  Gudea  scatters 
such   prayers   plentifully   through   his   inscrip- 

1  Published  by  Hilprecht,  The  Babylonian  Expedition  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  i,  part  2,  No.  87,  partially  translated  by  him,  ibid., 
p.  52ff.,  fully  translated  by  Thureau-Dangin,  Revue  Sfmitique,  1897, 
pp.  263£f.,  and  translated  anew  in  Die  Sunierischen  nnd  Akkadischen 
Konigsinschriften  (Leipzig,  1907),  pp.  153ff.  The  prayer  is  found  in 
column  iii,  lines  14-36.  See  a  different  translation  from  mine  in  Radau, 
Early  Babylonian  History,  p.  139,  and  another  in  Jastrow,  Die  Religion 
Babyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  p.  394. 


162      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

tions.    Here,  for  example,  is  a  prayer  and  hymn 
addressed  to  Ningirsu : 

O  warrior!  wild  dragon,  thou  that  hast  no  rival, 

Ningirsu,  thou  that  dost  [breathe]  in  the  depths. 

Thou  that  art  a  prince  in  Nippur! 

Warrior!  whose  commands  shall  I  fulfill  in  truth? 

Ningirsu,  thy  temple  will  I  build  thee. 

Thy  decisions  will  I  fulfill.^ 

The  same  monarch  appeals  often  to  the  goddess 
Bau,  in  words  like  these: 

0  my  queen,  daughter  of  the  pure  heaven. 

Who  givest  good  counsel,  and  dost  hold  first  rank  among 

the  gods 
Thou  that  grantest  life  unto  the  land. 

Thou  art  the  Queen,  the  mother  that  founded  Lagash. 
That  people  flourishes  upon  whom  thou  dost  look  in  favor. 
Long  life  falls  to  that  man  upon  whom  thou  dost  look  in 
favor. 

1  have  no  mother — thou  art  my  mother, 
I  have  no  father — thou  art  my  father. 

My  father in  a  holy  place  I  am  come  into  the 

world. 

0  my  goddess  Ga-tum-dug,  thou  knowest  what  is  good! 

Thou  hast  granted  me  life, 

1  will  seek  refuge  from  my  anxiety  in  thy  shadow,  under 

my  mother's  care.^ 

Far   above   these   prayers   range   the   noble 


1  Gudea,  Cylinder  A,  col.  ii,  lines  10—18  (in  Price's  edition).  For  the 
translation  compare  especially  Thureau-Dangin,  Die  Sumerischen  und 
Akkadischen  Konigsinschriften,  p.  91. 

2  Gudea,  A,  col.  ii,  28— iii,  15.  Compare  Thureau-Dangin,  op.  cit. 
pp.  92,  93. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  163 

prayers  of  Nebuchadrezzar,  of  which  this  may 
serve  as  a  sufficient  example: 

O  eternal  ruler,  lord  of  all  being,  grant  that  the  name 
of  the  king  that  thou  lovest,  whose  name  thou  hast  pro- 
claimed, may  flourish  as  seems  pleasing  to  thee.  Lead 
him  in  the  right  way.  I  am  the  prince  that  obeys  thee, 
the  creature  of  thy  hand.  Thou  hast  created  me,  and 
hast  intrusted  to  me  dominion  over  mankind.  Accord- 
ing to  thy  mercy,  O  lord,  which  thou  bestowest  upon  all, 
may  thy  supreme  rule  be  merciful!  The  worship  of  thy 
divinity  implant  in  my  heart!  Grant  me  what  seems 
good  to  thee,  for  thou  art  he  that  hast  fashioned  my  life.^ 

These  are  prayers;  the  hjniins  rise  to  even 
greater  heights,  and  among  these  we  can  do 
no  better  than  turn  to  the  splendid  hymn  to 
the  god  Nannar,  the  moon  god,  the  god  of  Ur. 
The  text  which  I  here  translate  comes  from  a 
copy  which  belonged  to  the  library  of  Ashur- 
banipaP;  it  is  written  in  Sumerian,  in  the  dia- 
lect of  Eme-sal,  as  well  as  in  Assyrian,  and  this 
careful  copying  in  both  tongues  may  perhaps 
serve  as  a  token  of  the  high  esteem  in  which 
it  was  held  in  the  later  Assyrian  days: 

0  Lord,  chief  of  the  gods,  who  alone  art  exalted  on  earth 

and  in  heaven. 
Father  Nannar,  Lord,  Anshar,  chief  of  the  gods. 


1  IR.,  53,  col.  i,  55-ii,  1.  (The  East  India  House  Inscription.)  It  has 
often  been  translated;  see,  for  example,  C.  D.  Gray  in  Harper's  Assyrian 
and  Babylonian  Literature,  p.  135. 

2  IV  R.,  2d  edition,  9.  For  other  translations  compare  R.  F.  Harper, 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  Ldteratitre,  pp.  430ff. ;  M.  Jastrow,  Die  Re- 
ligion Babyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  pp.  436fT. 


164      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Father  Nannar,  Lord,  great  Anu/  chief  of  the  gods, 

Father  Nannar,  Lord,  Sin,  chief  of  the  gods, 

Father  Nannar,  Lord  of  Ur,  chief  of  the  gods. 

Father  Nannar,  Lord  of  E-gish-shir-gal,  chief  of  the  gods, 

Father  Nannar,  Lord  of  the  veil,  brilhant  one,  chief  of 

the  gods. 
Father  Nannar,  whose  rule  is  perfect,  chief  of  the  gods. 
Father  Nannar,  who  dost  march  in  great  majesty,  chief  of 

the  gods, 
O  strong,  young  bull,  with  strong  horns,  perfect  in  muscles, 

with  beard  of  lapis  lazuli  color,^  full  of  glory  and 

perfection. 
Self-created,  full  of  developed  fruit,  beautiful  to  look  upon, 

in  whose  being  one  cannot  sufficiently  sate  himself; 
Mother  womb,  begetter  of  all  things,  who  has  taken  up 

his  exalted  habitation  among  living  creatures; 
O  merciful,  gracious  father,  in  whose  hand  rests  the  life 

of  the  whole  world. 
O  Lord,  thy  divinity  is  full  of  awe,  hke  the  far-off  heaven 

and  the  broad  ocean. 
O  creator  of  the  land,  founder  of  sanctuaries,  proclaimer 

of  their  names. 
O  father,  begetter  of  gods  and  men,  who  dost  build  dwell- 
ings and  establish  offerings. 
Who  dost  call  to  lordship,  dost  bestow  the  scepter,  de- 

terminest  destinies  for  far-off  days. 
O  mighty  leader,  whose  deep  inner  being  no  god  under- 
stands. 
O  sturdy  one,  whose  knees  do  not  grow  weary,  who  dost 

open  the  road  for  the  gods  thy  brothers. 
Thou  that  from   the  base   of  heaven  to   the  height  of 


1  Sin  is  here  identified  with  Anu.  This  method  of  honoring  a  god  in 
one  place  by  identifying  him  with  some  other  god  worshiped  elsewhere 
is  not  a  sign  of  monotheistic  tendencies.    See  p.  166. 

2  The  moon  god  is  represented  generally,  in  Babylonian  art,  with  a 
long  beard. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  165 

heaven  dost  march  in  glory,  opening  the  door  of 

heaven,  and  granting  light  to  all  men. 
O  father,  begetter   of  all   things,  who  lookest  upon  all 

living  beings  .... 
O  Lord,  who  determinest  the  decisions  of  heaven  and 

earth,  whose  command  is  not  set  aside. 
Who  holdest  fire  and  water,  and  leadest  all  souls. 
What  god  reaches  thy  fullness? 
Who  is  exalted  in  heaven?    Thou  alone  art  exalted. 
Who  is  exalted  on  earth?    Thou  alone  art  exalted. 
Thy  word^  is  proclaimed  in  heaven,  and  the  Igigi  prostrate 

themselves, 
Thy  word  is  proclaimed  on  earth,  and  the  Anunnaki  kiss 

the  ground. 
Thy  word  blows  on  high  like  a  storm  wind,  and  food  and 

drink  stream  before  it. 
Thy  word  settles  down  upon  earth,  and  vegetation  springs 

up. 
Thy  word  stretches  itself  out  over  stall  and  herd,  and  life 

is  increased. 
Thy  word,  who  can  grasp  it?    Who  is  like  unto  it? 
O  Lord,  there  is  none  like  unto  thee  in  sovereignty  in  the 

heaven,  in  sovereignty  on  earth. 
O  Lord  of  the  exalted  home  of  the  gods,  whose  word  has 

no  rival,  whose  divinity  is  beyond  compare. 

Much  of  this  is  full  of  splendid  religious  feel- 
ing, and  the  exaltation  of  Sin  sounds  in  places 
as  though  the  poet  could  scarcely  acknowledge 
any  other  god.  But  the  proof  that  other  gods 
were  invoked  in  the  same  terms  and  by  the 

1  Zimmern  {Die  Kcilinschrijten  rind  das  Alte  Testament,  p.  608,  foot- 
note 6)  argues  that  this  use  of  the  expression  "word"  is  a  personification 
which  he  compares  with  the  Old  Testament  usage.  I  entirely  agree 
with  Jastrow  {op.  cit.,  p.  4.37,  footnote  8)  that  this  is  mistaken.  It 
means  nothing  more  than  "command." 


166      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

same  kings  is  plentiful.  There  is  perhaps  a 
stream  here  discernible  which  flows  toward 
henotheism,  though  there  is  surely  no  gleam  of 
monotheism.  I  doubt,  indeed,  whether  it  is 
not  rather  a  pantheistic  tendency  such  as  ap- 
pears in  the  splendid  Hymn  to  Aton  of  Amen- 
ophis  IV.^  There  was  in  a  somewhat  later 
period  than  that  to  which  this  hymn  belongs  a 
philosophical  speculation  among  the  priests  of 
Babylon  by  which  they  sought  to  identify  with 
Marduk  the  powers  and  privileges  of  the  other 
gods.  This  appears  in  the  phrases,  ^'Ninib  is 
the  Marduk  of  battle,"  ''Sin  is  Marduk  the  light 
of  night,"  ''Ramman  is  the  Marduk  of  rain." 
There  is  here  no  sound  of  monotheism;  it  is  at 
best  a  philosophical  speculation  with  a  tendency 
toward  henotheism.  It  is  a  pity  that  these 
priests  were  not  able  to  rise  above  these  limita- 
tions into  a  real  henotheism,  nay,  into  mono- 
theism itself;  but  the  God  who  stands  in  the 
shadows  behind  all  the  rehgious  gropings  of 
man  willed  it  not  so.  That  greater  honor  was 
reserved  for  the  little  people  of  the  West,  once 
a  nation  of  slaves  in  Egypt,  and  then  the  bringers 
in  of  a  new  day  to  the  world  of  men  who  sought 
after  God. 

Perhaps  we  shall  do  well  to  remind  ourselves 
again  that  these  hymns  are  connected  often 
with   the   magical   and   incantation   literature. 


1  See  a  beautiful  translation  of  this  hyinn  in  James  Henry  Breasted,  A 
History  of  Egypt,  pp.  371ff.     New  York,  1905. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  167 

and  this  may  well  be  accomplished  by  the  cita- 
tion of  a  few  lines  from  a  hymn  to  the  goddess 
Ishtar  in  which  prayer  and  incantation  and 
hymn  are  blended: 

A  "  PRAYER    OF   THE    RAISING    OF    THE  HAND  "  TO    ISHTAR^ 

Incantation.     I  pay  unto  thee,  sovereign  of  sovereigns, 

goddess  of  goddesses, 
Ishtar,  queen  of  all  men,  directress  of  mankind. 
O  Irini,^  O  exalted  one,  mistress  of  the  Igigi, 
Thou  art  mighty,  thou  art  queen,  thy  name  is  exalted. 
5  Thou  art  the  light  of  heaven  and  earth,  O  valiant 

daughter  of  Sin, 
Directing  arms,  establishing  combat, 
Framing  all  laws,  bearing  the  crown  of  dominion. 
O  lady,  thy  greatness  is  majestic,  exalted  above  all 

the  gods. 
Star  of  lamentation,   who  makest  hostility  among 

brethren  at  peace, 

1  There  has  been  found  in  the  British  Museum  a  most  interesting  class 
of  tablets,  each  having  a  colophon  written  between  two  straight  lines, 
drawn  by  the  scribe  and  containing  the  words,  "Prayer  of  the  Lifting 
of  the  Hand  to  ...  "  with  the  name  of  a  god  or  goddess  inserted  at  the 
close.  The  expression  of  the  raising  of  the  hand  refers  to  the  act  of 
prayer,  and  the  texts  have  at  the  close  directions  for  the  performing 
of  various  ritual  observances.  The  tablets  were  not  numbered  by  the 
Assyrians  themselves  into  a  series  like  the  Maqlu  and  Shurpu  series, 
and  so  form  rather  a  class  than  a  series.  AH  that  were  known  up  to 
1896  were  published  by  L.  W.  King  (Babylonian  Magic  and  Sorcery 
being  "The  Prayers  of  the  Ldfting  of  the  Hand."  London,  1896).  After- 
ward King  found  another  and  far  finer  tablet  of  the  same  class  which 
was  published  along  with  the  creation  legends  (King,  The  Seven  Tablets 
of  Creation,  London,  1902,  ii,  75ff.,  the  original  text,  and  i,  222ff.,  the 
translation).  It  has  also  been  translated  into  German  by  Zimmern, 
Babylonische  Hymnen  xind  Gebete,  pp.  19ff.  {Alter  Orient,  vii,  3),  and  into 
French  by  Dhorme,  Choix  de  Textes  Religieux  Assyro-Babyloniens,  pp. 
356ff.  My  translation  owes  some  slight  improvements  to  both  of  these. 
On  this  class  of  texts  one  may  further  compare  Weber,  Die  Literatur  der 
Babylonier  und  Assyrer,  pp.  153fF.     Leipzig,  1907. 

2  Ishtar  is  identified  with  Irini,  just  as  she  is  elsewhere  with  Anunit, 
Belit,  Nana,  etc.    For  this  process  of  identification  see  also  p.  166. 


168      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

10  Making  them  abandon  friendship 

For  a  friend.     O  lady  of  victory,  making  my  desire 
impetuous. 

0  Gushea/  who  art  covered  with  battle,  who  art 

clothed  with  fear. 
Thou  dost  perfect  destiny  and  decision,  the  law  of 

earth  and  heaven. 
Sanctuaries,  shrines,  divine  dwelUngs  and  temples 

worship  thee. 
15  Where  is  thy  name  not  heard?    Where  not  thy  decree? 
Where  are  thy  images  not  made?     Where  are  thy 

temples  not  founded? 
Where  art  thou  not  great?     Where  art  thou  not 

exalted? 
Anu,  Bel,  and  Ea  have  exalted  thee,  among  the  gods 

have  they  increased  thy  dominion, 

25  Thou  judgest  the  cause  of  men  with  justice  and  right. 
Thou   regardest  the   violent   and   destructive,   thou 
directest  them  every  morning. 

This  is  all  on  a  high  plane,  and  much  of  it 
seems  almost  as  noble  as  the  great  h5niin  of  Sin 
which  has  just  passed  before  us.  But  it  soon 
plunges  downward  through  a  beautiful  prayer 
into  bans  and  witcheries  and  incantations.  Let 
us  pass  a  little  more  of  it  in  review : 

1  invoke  thee,  I,  sorrowful,  sighing,  suffering. 
Look  upon  me,  O  my  lady,  and  accept  my  supplica- 
tion. 

Pity  me  in  truth,  and  hearken  unto  my  prayer. 
45  Speak  deliverance  unto  me,  let  thy  heart  be  appeased. 


1  King   reads  Gutira,   but    doubtless  Gushea  is  the   correct   reading. 
Compare  Meissner,  Supplement  zu  den  assyrischen  Worterbuchern,  p.  29. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  169 

How  long  shall  my  body  lament,  full  of  troubles  and 
disorders? 

How  long  shall  my  heart  be  afflicted,  full  of  sorrow 
and  sighing? 

How  long  shall  my  omens  be  sad,  troubled  and  con- 
fused? 

How  long  shall  my  house  be  troubled,  pouring  forth 
complaints? 

55  Put  an  end  to  the  evil  bewitchments  of  my  body,  that 
I  may  see  thy  clear  Ught. 

59  How  long,  O  my  lady,  shall  the  ravenous  demon 
pursue  me? 

Here  we  may  plainly  see  the  higher  slipping 
away  into  the  lower,  the  later  religious  attain- 
ment slipping  back  into  the  early  magic.  But 
it  drops  still  lower,  for  the  conclusion  has 
naught  to  offer  but  a  meaningless  ceremonial 
and  a  reliance  upon  the  iteration  of  this  form 
of  words.  So  does  the  concluding  passage 
stand : 

107  This  shalt  thou  do  ....  a  green  bough  shalt  thou 
sprinkle  with  pure  water;  four  bricks  from  the 
midst  of  a  ruin  shalt  thou  set  up; 
A  lamb  shalt  thou  take;  with  ^rbatu  wood  shalt 
thou  fill  the  censer,  and  thou  shalt  set  fire  (there- 
to); sweet  scented  woods,  some  wpunta  plant 
and  some  cypress  wood, 
Shalt  thou  keep  up;  a  drink  offering  shalt  thou  offer, 
but  thou  shalt  not  bow  thyself  down.  This  in- 
cantation before  the  goddess  Ishtar 

110  Three  times  shalt  thou  recite  ....  and  thou  shalt 
not  look  behind  thee. 


170      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Incantation.     0  exalted  Ishtar,  that  givest  light  unto 
the  four  quarters  of  the  world. 

It  is  quite  plain  here  that  the  very  words  must 
be  repeated.  The  efficacy  of  the  spell  depended 
upon  the  exact  repetition.  The  literature  is 
full  of  material  of  this  kind.  It  mattered  not 
whether  the  priest  understood  the  words  or  not : 
"the  inspiration  lay  in  the  words  more  than  in 
the  sense  they  conveyed ;  and  error  of  pronuncia- 
tion was  more  fatal  than  a  misunderstanding  of 
their  meaning."^  It  is  indeed  a  strange  mixture 
of  spiritual  religion  and  of  the  sorcerer's  arts 
which  here  confronts  us. 

Before  we  leave  these  hymns  we  ought  to 
turn  our  minds  for  a  little  while  to  the  greatest 
of  them  all.  The  high  position  which  we  are 
ready  and  willing  to  give  to  it  seems  to  have 
been  given  also  in  the  ancient  world,  for  the 
fragments  which  have  come  down  to  us  belong 
to  at  least  three  distinct  copies,  and  it  seems  a 
just  inference  that  its  worth  found  a  full  recog- 
nition. It  is  sadly  broken,  but  we  can  make  out 
at  least  a  portion  of  it.  It  is  addressed  to  Sha- 
mash,  the  sun  god,  and  is  quite  free  of  the 
magical  formulas  which  have  so  disfigured  the 
hymns  previously  quoted. 

The  mighty  mountains  are  filled  with  thy  glance,^ 

1  Sayce,  The  Religions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylon,  p.  414. 

2  This  hymn  was  first  published  by  Briinnow,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Assyr- 
iologie,  iv,  pp.  7-35.  It  has  been  repubhshed  with  some  additions  by 
C.   D.   Gray,   The  Shamash  Religious  Texts  (Chicago,   1901),  pp.  9-23, 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  171 

20  Thy  holiness  fills  and  overpowers  all  lands, 

Thou  dost  reach  the  mountains,  dost  overlook  the 

earth  ; 
At  the  uttermost  points  of  earth,  in  the  midst  of 

heaven,  thou  dost  move, 
The  inhabitants  of  the  whole  earth  thou  dost  watch 

over, 
All  that  Ea,  the  king,  the  prince,  has   created  thou 
dost  watch  over, 
25  All  created  beings  thou  dost  shepherd  together. 
Thou  art  the  shepherd  of  all  above  and  below. 
Thou  dost  march  in  order  over  heaven's  course. 
To  lighten  the  earth  dost  thou  come  daily. 
The  waters,  the  sea,  the  mountains,  the  earth,    the 
heaven, 
30  How  ....  orderly  dost  thou  come  daily, 

Among  all  the  Igigi  there  is  not  that  giveth  rest,  but 
thee ; 

Among  all  the  gods  of  the  Universe,  there  is  none 
that  exceeds  thee. 

At  thy  rising  all  the  gods  of  the  lands  assemble  to- 
gether. 

And  so  it  sweeps  on  in  noble  adoration,  heaping 
praise  upon  the  god,  and  rising  height  upon 
height  of  exaltation  to  him.  But  grander  by 
far  are  the  lines  in  which  the  god  is  praised  as  a 
judge  of  righteousness,  as  a  god  to  whom  come 
the  deeds  of  men  for  review  in  praise  or  blame : 

Column  II: 

Who  plans  evil — his  horn  thou  dost  destroy, 

plates  1-2.  It  has  also  been  translated,  in  part,  by  Jastrow,  Die  Re- 
ligion Bahyloniens  vnd  Assyriens,  pp.  433,  434.  The  hymn  contained 
originally  about  424  lines,  and  it  is  a  great  pity  that  it  has  come  down 
to  us  so  badly  broken. 


172      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

40  Whoever  in  fixing  boundaries  annuls  rights. 
The  unjust  judge  thou  restrainest  with  force. 
Whoever  accepts  a  bribe,  who  does  not  judge  justly 

— on  him  thou  imposest  sin. 
But  he  who  does  not  accept  a  bribe,  who  has  a  care 

for  the  oppressed, 
To  him  Shamash  is  gracious,  his  life  he  prolongs. 
45  The  judge  who  renders  a  just  decision 

Shall  end  in  a  palace,  the  place  of  princes  shall  be 

his  dwelling. 

Column  III: 

The  seed  of  those  who  act  unjustly  shall  not  flourish. 

What  their  mouth  declares  in  thy  presence 

Thou  shalt  burn  it  up,  what  they  purpose  wilt  thou 

annul. 
15  Thou  kno west  their  transgressions ;  the  declaration  of 

the  wicked  thou  dost  cast  aside. 
Every  one  wherever  he  may  be  is  in  thy  care. 
Thou  directest  their  judgments,  the  imprisoned  dost 

thou  liberate. 
Thou   hearest,    O    Shamash,    petition,    prayer,    and 

appeal. 
Humility,  prostration,  petitioning,  and  reverence. 
20  With  loud  voice  the  unfortunate  one  cries  to  thee. 
The  weak,  the  exhausted,  the  oppressed,  the  lowly. 
Mother,  wife,  maid  appeal  to  thee. 
He  who  is  removed  from  his  family,  he  that  dwelleth 

far  from  his  city. 

And  so  it  goes  on  calling  out  by  name  all  classes 
of  society,  the  merchant,  the  hunter,  the  learned, 
the  humble  shepherd,  all  of  whom  depend  for 
assistance  upon  the  great  and  wise  and  good  sun 
god.  This  hymn  rises  far  above  aught  else  that 
has  yet  claimed  our  attention  in  this  old  faith. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  173 

Here  is  no  suggestion  of  magic  or  sorcery; 
here  is  no  trace  of  animism  or  demonism.  Here 
is  only  praise  for  the  great  god  of  the  sun.  One 
feels  also  most  deeply  how  close  this  came  to 
an  appreciation  of  the  sun  god  as  a  judge  of 
men  on  an  ethical  basis,  how  near  these  old 
hearts  were  to  bursting  through  the  veil  into  a 
larger  reUgious  life. 

But  elsewhere  all  over  Babylonia,  in  several 
of  the  greatest  temples,  a  similar  struggle  up- 
ward was  in  progress,  but  the  power  to  unite 
these  wavering  hearts  was  wanting. 

In  E-zida,  where  Nabu  was  worshiped,  the 
temple  of  Borsippa,  Babylon's  neighboring  city, 
this  h5rmn*  was  uttered : 

O  lord,  prince,  firstborn  of  Marduk, 

O  prudent  ruler,  offspring  of  Sarpanitum, 

Nabu,  bearer  of  the  tablet  of  fates  of  the  god,  director 
of  E-sagila, 

Lord  of  E-zida,  protector  of  Borsippa, 
5  Darling  of  Ea,  giver  of  life, 

Lord  of  Babylon,  protector  of  life, 

God  of  dwelling  places,  preserver  of  men,  lord  of 
sanctuaries, 

Thy  honor  is  made  known  by  mouth  of  men,  O  pro- 
tecting god. 

O  son  of  the  great  Marduk,  in  thy  mouth  is  justice. 
10  In  thy  honored  name,  upon  thy  exalted  command, 

I,  So  and  So,  the  son  of  So  and  So,  of  grievous  illness 
held,  thy  servant, 


•  Published  and  translated  by  King,  Babylonian  Magic  and  Sorcery, 
etc..  No.  22,  pp.  81ff.    Compare  also  Jastrow,  op.  cit.,  p.  445. 


174      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

The  hand   of   the   Utukku   and  the  breath   of   the 
Burruda  hath  overcome  and  seized  me, 

Grant  me  to  attain  unto  hfe  and  heahng, 

Establish  righteousness  in  my  mouth. 
15 mercy  within  my  heart, 

Return  and  rest.    May  they  command  mercy. 

May  my  god  stand  at  my  right  hand. 

May  my  goddess  stand  at  my  left  hand. 

May  the  good  Shedu,  the  good  Lamassu,  stand  by  me, 
20  Heal  me  through  command  and  obedience. 

This  poem  of  praise  to  Nabu  shows  at  once  how 
far  these  worshipers  in  Borsippa  had  come  in 
the  lifting  up  of  their  patron  deity  toward  the 
height  to  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  people  of 
Sippar  had  raised  Shamash.  But  this  hymn 
shows  also  how  tenaciously  the  demonistic  ideas 
had  clung,  how  the  Shedu  and  Lamassu  still 
claimed  belief,  and  how  persistently  the  dualistic 
idea  of  goddess  by  the  side  of  god  Uved  on  until 
the  very  end,  as  Delitzsch*  has  pointed  out  in 
earnest  words  which  we  shall  do  well  not  to 
forget. 

But  great  as  Nabu  may  seem  to  be  when  we 
have  this  hymn  before  us,  he  falls  backward 
into  the  shadows  when  our  thoughts  turn  to 
Marduk,  god  of  Babylon,  who  rose  high  and 
higher  as  the  political  preeminence  of  Babylon 
was  achieved  and  established.  For  him,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  the  old  religious  and  mytho- 

1  "Denn,  was  nie  zu  vergessen  ist,  der  Dualismus  von  Gott  und  Gottin 
bleibt  allem  Anschein  nach  trotz  der  Vorstellung  von  Marduk  als  dem 
Einen  Gott,  ja  selbst  trotz  der  Identifizierung  von  Marduk  und  Nebo 
iinangetastet." — Bnbel  u.  Bihel,  i,  5te  Auf.,  p.  82. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  175 

logical  literature  was  rewritten,  that  his  poHtical 
claims  might  be  supported  by  theological  tenets. 
What  honors  in  hymns  were  paid  to  him  we 
must  seek  to  iaiow  ere  we  pass  away  from  the 
hymns  to  the  cry  of  the  penitent. 

A  number  of  hymns  to  Marduk  have  come 
down  to  us,  representing  many  phases  of  re- 
ligious development,  and  it  is  difficult  to  choose 
among  them,  but  we  must  take  care  to  find  the 
best,  that  the  religion  of  Marduk  may  be 
represented  at  its  highest  point.  Here  is  a 
hymn^  which  will  perhaps  serve  well  as  a  be- 
ginning: 

Incantation: 
9-10  Great  king,  lord  of  the  lands, 
11-13  Firstborn  son  of  Ea,  who  is  powerful  in  heaven 

and  upon  earth, 
14-16  Marduk,  great  lord  of  men,  and  king  of  the  lands, 

god  of  gods, 
17-18  Prince  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  hath  not  his  like, 
19-20  Darling  of  Anu  and  of  Bel, 
21-22  Merciful  among  the  gods, 
23-24  Merciful,  who  loveth  to  awaken  the  dead, 
25-26  Marduk,  king  of  heaven  and  of  earth, 
27-28  King  of  Babylon,  lord  of  E-sagila, 
29-30  King  of  E-zida,  lord  of  E-makhtila, 
31-32  Heaven  and  earth  are  thine, 
33-34  The  bewitching  of  life  is  thine, 

'  IV  R.,  2d  edition,  29,  No.  1.  This  portion  of  it  is  translated  very- 
well  by  Hehn,  Sunde  und  Erlosung  nnch  Biblischer  und  Bahylonischer 
Anschauung  (Leipzig,  1903),  pp.  27,  28.  The  same  scholar  has  reedited 
the  text  and  translated  it  in  Beitrage  zur  Assyriologie,  v,  pp.  334,  336. 
Text  and  translation  also  in  C.  Fossey,  La  magie  aasyrienne  (Paris,  1902), 
pp.  364ff.  Translation  by  Jastrow,  Die  Religion  Babyloniens  und  Assyr' 
iens,  p.  501. 


176      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

35-36  The  food  of  Hfe  is  thine, 

37-38  The  pure  incantation,  the  incantation  of  the  deep 

is  thine, 
39-40  Mankind,  the  black-haired  men, 
41-42  All  that  hath  a  soul  upon  earth  are  thine. 
43-44  The  four  quarters  of  heaven, 
45-46  The  Igigi  of  all  heaven  and  of  earth, 
47-49  So  many  as  there  are, 
50-51  Unto  thee  is  their  thought  directed, 

Reverse : 

1-2  Thou  art  their  shedu, 
3-4  Thou  art  their  lamassu, 
5-6  Thou  art  he  that  giveth  them  life, 
7-8  Thou  art  he  that  restoreth  it. 
9-10  Merciful  among  the  gods, 

11  Merciful  who  loveth  to  awaken  the  dead, 

12  Marduk,  king  of  heaven  and  of  earth, 

13-14  Thy  name  will  I  name,  thy  greatness  publish, 
15-18  The  mention  of  thy  name  the  gods  do  praise. 
19-20  Turn  away  the  sickness  of  the  sick  man. 

A  noble  hymn  is  this,  but  still  bearing  in  it  the 
marks  of  polytheism,  and  showing  in  its  last 
words  how  close  is  the  connection  of  even  these 
very  lofty  hymns  with  the  healing  of  disease. 
It  is  interesting  also  as  showing  the  effort  to 
assemble  in  Marduk' s  hands  powers  and  privi- 
leges which  had  belonged  to  the  older  gods. 
Here,  for  example,  is  the  verse, 
The  pure  incantation,  the  incantation  of  the  deep  is  thine. 

This  is  the  oft-mentioned  shipat-Eridu,  the  in- 
cantation of  Eridu,  which  in  the  earlier  litera- 
ture belongs  to  Ea. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  177 

As  a  last  witness  to  the  hymns  of  the  Baby- 
lonian religion  Vv^e  may  well  have  recourse  to  a 
splendid  hymn  to  Marduk,  which  first  became 
known  to  us  in  a  copy  recovered  from  the 
library  of  AshurbanipaL*  It  is  one  of  the 
romances  of  archaeology  that  the  same  hymn 
has  now  been  found  in  Babylon  itself.^  A  com- 
parison shows  that  the  copyist  made  some 
changes,  besides  adding  at  the  end  a  few  words 
of  prayer  for  Ashurbanipal,  to  whom  the  copy 
was  thenceforth  to  belong.    Here  is  the  prayer: 

Grant  that  Ashurbanipal,  the  shepherd  who  honors 
thee,  may  live.  Hear  his  prayer.  Establish  in  goodness 
the  foundation  of  his  royal  throne.  Forever  may  he 
guide  the  scepter  of  his  people. 

The  Babylonian  original  has  a  colophon  di- 
recting that  the  hymn  be  used  on  the  eleventh 
day  of  Nisan,  the  first  month  of  the  new  year, 
when  Marduk  entered  his  own  especial  sanctuary 
in  the  temple  of  E-sagila.  As  we  shall  see  again 
and  again  through  the  psalm  comes  the  word 
''Rest"  or  'Teace,"  which  is  but  an  abbreviation 
of  the  old  formula  of  the  incantation  texts, 
''May  thy  heart  be  appeased."  In  these  days 
at  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  Marduk,  sur- 
rounded by  his  court,  was  wont  to  establish  and 
decree  the  fates  for  the  year.    It  is  as  an  appeal 

1  The  original  text,  IV  R.,  2d  edition,  18,  No.  2.  Translated  by 
Jastrow,  Die  Religion  Bahyloniens  und  Assyriens,  i,  503ff. 

2  See  Mittheilungen  der  Deutschen  Orient-Gesellschaft,  No.  9,  and  Weiss- 
bach,  Bahylonische  Miscellen,  pp.  36-41,  pi.  13,  14. 


178      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

to  him  for  mercy  and  tenderness  and  goodness 
during  the  new  year  that  this  hymn  is  indited : 

O  Lord,  on  thine  entrance  into  thy  house,  may  thy  house 
rejoice  in  thee. 

Mighty  lord  Marduk,  on  thine  entrance  into  thy  house, 
may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee.^ 

Great  warrior,  lord  En-bi-lu-lu  [that  is,  lord  that  com- 
mands mankind],  on  thine  entrance  into  thy  house, 
may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee. 

Rest,  O  lord,  rest,  O  lord,  may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee. 

Rest,  lord  of  Babylon,  may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee. 

Rest,  lord  of  E-sagila,  may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee. 

Rest,  lord  of  E-zida,^  may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee. 

Rest,  lord  of  E-makhtila,^  may  thy  house  rejoice  in  thee. 

E-sagila,  the  house  of  thy  lordship,  may  thy  house  re- 
joice in  thee. 

Thy  city  cries  out  to  thee,  "Rest,"  may  thy  house  rejoice 
in  thee. 

Babylon  cries  out  to  thee,  "Rest,"  may  thy  house  rejoice 
in  thee. 

The  great  Anu,  father  of  the  gods,  cries  out  to  thee,  "Rest 
at  last." 

May  the  mighty  mountain,*  father  Bel,^  cry  to  thee, 
"Rest  at  last." 

The  queen  of  city  and  house,  the  great  mother  Belit,  cry 
to  thee,  "Rest  at  last." 

Ninib,  the  firstborn  of  Bel,  with  the  exalted  armor  of  Anu, 
cry  to  thee,  "Rest  at  last." 

Sin,  the  light  of  heaven  and  earth,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at 
last." 


1  In  the  second  line,  and  thereafter  only  the  word  "house"  is  repeated, 
the  rest  of  the  formula  being  mentally  supplied  from  the  first  line. 

2  E-zida,  the  temple  of  Nabu  in  Borsippa,  also  the  name  of  a  sanctuary 
of  Nabu  in  the  temple  of  E-sagila. 

'  E-makhtila,  a  temple  or  chapel  of  Nabu  (Nebo)  in  Borsippa. 
■*  Mighty  mountain,  the  home  of  the  gods. 
5  Father  Bel  is  Ellil,  the  elder  Bel  of  Nippur. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  179 

The  strong  hero,  Shamash,  son  of  Nin-gal,  cry  to   thee 

"Peace  at  last." 
Ea,  king  of  the  deep,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
Damkina,  queen  of  the  deep,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
Sarpanitum,  the  daughter-in-law  of  the  deep, 
The  true  messenger,  Nabu,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
The  daughter-in-law,  firstborn  of  lb,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace 

at  last." 

Tashmitum,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 

The  Lord  Madanu,  the  overseer  of  the  Anunnaki,  cry  to 

thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
The  exalted  great  lady,  Nana,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
Bau,  the  gracious  consort,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
Adad,  beloved  son  of  Anu,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
Shala,  the  great  lady,  cry  to  thee,  "Peace  at  last." 
The  lord,  possessor  of  power,  who  dwells  in  E-kur,  may 

the  courage  of  thy  godhead  be  appeased. 
Lord  of  the  gods  art  thou,  may  the  gods  of  heaven  and 

earth  appease  thine  anger. 
Thy  city,  Nippur,  cast  not  away.     Let  them  cry  to  thee, 

"0  lord,  peace." 
Sippar  cast  not  away.     Let  her  cry  to  thee,  "0  lord, 

peace." 
Babylon,  the  city  of  thy  peace,  cast  not  away.    Let  her 

cry  to  thee,  "O  lord,  peace." 
Look  graciously  upon  thy  house.     Look  graciously  upon 

thy  city.    Let  them  cry  to  thee,  "O  lord,  peace." 
Look  graciously  upon  Babylon  and  E-sagila.     Let  them 

cry  to  thee,  "O  lord,  peace." 
The  bolt  of  Babylon,  the  lock  of  E-sagila,  the  defense  of 

E-zida, 
Bring  back  to  their  places,  the  gods  of  heaven  and  earth. 

Let  them  cry  to  thee,  "0  lord,  peace." 

In  this  hymn  every  Une  is  divided  with  a  Httle 
stroke  that  the  eye  may  at  a  glance  see  the  way 


180      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

in  which  the  hymn  was  to  be  sung  antiphonally. 
The  priest  pronounced  the  words  of  the  first 
half  of  the  fine,  in  all  probability,  and  then  the 
choir  responded  with  the  refrain.  As  Jastrow 
has  pointed  out,  this  affords  a  most  interesting 
parallel  to  the  great  Hallel  Psalms^  of  the  He- 
brew Psalter.  It  would  perhaps  be  quite  safe 
to  suppose  that  the  priests  who  composed  them 
had  ringing  in  their  ears  the  sounds  of  the 
praises  of  Marduk  by  his  priests. 

The  third  division  of  the  sacred  literature  of 
the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  is  composed  of 
penitential  psalms.  These  resemble  the  psalms 
of  the  Old  Testament,  even  though  it  be  afar 
off,  in  many  particulars.  They  represent,  in  the 
first  place,  a  note  of  penitence  for  sin,  which  is 
conceived  as  the  real  cause  of  all  suffering  and 
sorrow,  quite  as  in  the  Psalter.  They  are  also, 
like  the  Old  Testament  psalms,  individualistic 
in  tone,  though  afterward,  like  the  Psalter  again, 
adapted  to  public  religious  use.  In  many  of 
them  we  can  distinguish  the  portion  intended 
for  recitation  by  the  penitent,  and  the  portion 
to  be  recited  by  the  priest,  who  encourages  him 
to  hope  and  trust  in  his  god.  The  sin  which 
drives  the  penitent  to  these  prayers  runs  all  the 
way  from  moral  wrongdoing  to  the  merest  cere- 
monial uncleanness.  One  can  feel,  even  at  this 
long  distance  of  time  and  remoteness  of  spiritual 
fellowship,  the  real  pang  of  concern  for  real 

1  The  Hallel  Psalms  are  113-118. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  181 

moral  uncleanness  which  sounds  in  some  of  these 
psahns.  But  even  in  these  there  is  a  minghng 
of  the  blurred  sounds  of  exorcism  with  the 
spiritual  note  of  real  religious  life.  And  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  there  seems  to  run  through 
them  all  as  a  very  basal  idea  the  desire  to  be 
delivered  from  some  bodily  distress  or  disease. 
Sin  is  viewed  in  them  not  quite  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment sense,  as  sin  'per  se,  but  in  the  lower  sense, 
as  something  to  be  forgiven  before  healing  can 
be  had  of  bodily  disease.  The  air  that  blew 
over  the  great  plains  of  Babylonia  was  not  quite 
the  same  as  that  which  swept  over  Bethel  or 
Jerusalem. 

A  considerable  number  of  these  psalms  have 
come  down  to  us  addressed  to  Shamash,  Ninib, 
Ishtar,  Marduk,  and  -yet  other  gods  and  god- 
desses. Some  of  them  containing  fine  words  of 
adoration  and  appeal.  Here  are  a  few  words 
addressed  to  Ishtar: 

I,  thy  servant,  full  of  sighs,  call  upon  thee. 

The  fervent  prayer  of  him  who  has  sinned  do  thou  accept. 

If  thou  lookest  upon  a  man,  that  man  liveth, 

O  powerful  mistress  of  mankind, 

Merciful  one  to  whom  it  is  good  to  turn,  who  accepts  sighs. 

But  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  of  all  the 
penitential  psalms  ought  here  to  find  a  place; 
for  the  quoting  of  many  is  impossible  under 
these  limits.  The  one  which  seems  to  me  to 
represent  better  than  any  other  the  highest 
point  attained  by  the  religion  of  these  people  is 


182       RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

an  anonymous  psalm/  a  psalm  which  might  be 
addressed  to  any  god  that  the  worshiper  might 
know  and  choose,  or  which  might  be  spoken 
out  into  the  unseen,  if  the  penitent  did  not 
know  against  what  god  he  had  committed  an 
offense : 

The  anger  of  the  lord,  may  it  be  appeased.^ 

The  god  that  I  know  not,  be  appeased. 

The  goddess  that  I  know  not,  be  appeased. 

The  god,  known  or  unknown,  be  appeased. 

The  heart  of  my  god,  be  appeased. 

The  heart  of  my  goddess,  be  appeased. 

The  anger  of  the  god  and  of  my  goddess,  be  appeased. 

The  god,  who  is  angry  against  me,  be  appeased. 

A  transgression  against  a  god  I  knew  not,  I  have  com- 
mitted. 

A  transgression  against  a  goddess  I  knew  not,  I  have  com- 
mitted. 

A  gracious  name,  may  the  god  I  knew  not,  name. 

A  gracious  name,  may  the  goddess  I  knew  not,  name. 

A  gracious  name,  may  the  god  known  or  unknown,  name. 

The  pure  food  of  my  god  have  I  unwittingly  eaten. 

The  clear  water  of  my  goddess  I  have  unwittingly  drunken. 

The  taboo  of  my  god  I  have  unwittingly  eaten. 

To  an  offense  against  my  goddess  I  have  unwittingly 
walked. 

O  lord,  my  transgressions  are  many,  great  are  my  sins. 

My  god,  my  transgressions  are  many,  great  are  my  sins, 

O  goddess,  known  or  unknown,  my  transgressions  are 
many,  great  are  my  sins, 


'  IV  R.,  10.  Very  frequently  translated,  among  others  by  Sayce, 
The  Religions  of  Ancient  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  pp.  419-241;  Zimmern, 
Die  Keilinschriften  und  das  Alien  Testament,  pp.  Gllff. ;  Jastrow,  Die 
Religion  Babyloniens  und  Assyriens,  ii,  101  ff. 

*  Literally,  return  to  its  place,  that  is,  come  to  rest,  to  peace. 


THE  SACRED  BOOKS  183 

The  transgression  that  I  have  committed,  I  know  not, 

The  sin  that  I  have  wrought,  I  know  not. 

The  taboo,  that  I  have  eaten,  I  know  not. 

The  offense,  into  which  I  walked,  I  know  not. 

The  lord,  in  the  wrath  of  his  heart,  has  regarded  me. 

The  god,  in  the  anger  of  his  heart,  has  surrounded  me. 

The  goddess,  who  is  angry  against  me,  hath  made  me  like 
a  sick  man, 

A  god,  known  or  unknown,  hath  oppressed  me, 

A  goddess,  known  or  unknown,  has  wrought  me  sorrow. 

I  sought  for  help,  but  none  took  my  hand, 

I  wept,  but  none  came  to  my  side, 

I  cried  aloud,  and  there  was  none  that  heard  me. 

I  am  full  of  trouble,  overpowered,  and  dare  not  look  up. 

To  my  merciful  god  I  turn,  I  utter  my  prayer. 

The  feet  of  my  goddess  I  kiss,  I  touch  them, 

To  the  god,  known  or  unknown,  I  turn,  I  utter  my  prayer. 

To  the  goddess,  known  or  unknown,  I  turn,  I  utter  my 
prayer. 

O  lord,  turn  thy  face  to  me,  receive  my  prayer. 

O  goddess,  turn  graciously  to  me,  receive  my  prayer. 

O  god,  known  or  unknown,  turn  thy  face  to  me,  receive 
my  prayer. 

O  goddess,  known  or  unknown,  turn  graciously  to  me, 
receive  my  prayer. 

How  long,  O  my  god,  let  thy  heart  be  appeased. 

How  long,  O  my  goddess,  let  thy  heart  be  appeased. 

O  god,  known  or  unknown,  let  thy  heart's  anger  return  to 
its  place. 

O  goddess,  known  or  unknown,  let  thy  hostile  heart  re- 
turn to  its  place. 

Mankind  are  foolish,  and  there  is  none  that  knoweth. 

So  many  are  they — who  knoweth  aught? 

Whether  they  do  evil  or  good,  no  one  knoweth. 

0  lord,  cast  not  away  thy  servant. 

In  the  waters  of  mire  he  lies,  seize  his  hand! 

The  sins,  that  I  have  done,  turn  to  a  blessing. 


184      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

The  transgression,  which  I  have  committed,  may  the  wind 
bear  away. 

My  manifold  transgressions  strip  off  Hke  a  garment. 

O  my  god,  my  transgressions  are  seven  times  seven,  for- 
give my  transgressions. 

O  my  goddess,  my  transgressions  are  seven  times  seven, 
forgive  my  transgressions. 

O  god,  known  or  unknown,  my  transgressions  are  seven 
times  seven,  forgive  my  transgressions. 

O  goddess,  known  or  unknown,  my  transgressions  are 
seven  times  seven,  forgive  my  transgressions, 

Forgive  my  transgression,  for  I  humble  myself  before  thee. 

Thy  heart,  like  a  mother's,  may  it  return  to  its  place, 

Like  a  mother  that  hath  borne  children,  like  a  father  that 
hath  begotten  them,  may  it  turn  again  to  its  place. 

In  this  the  human  heart  speaks.  Here  are 
the  words  of  a  man  who  had  known  sin  and  its 
smitings,  but  to  him  there  was  no  such  clear 
course  to  the  mercy  and  forgiveness  of  a 
heavenly  Father  as  lay  open  and  plain  before 
that  wonderful  company  of  singers  whose  songs 
have  been  garnered  mto  Israel's  Psalter. 

With  these  prayers  of  a  penitent  we  come  to 
the  end  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Babylonians 
and  Assyrians.  These  are  really  books  of  reli- 
gious faith  and  yearning,  and  it  was  surely  not 
without  His  prompting  that  the  best  of  them 
burst  out  of  human  hearts  in  far-away  Baby- 
lonia. For  God  hath  ''made  of  one  every  nation 
of  men  .  .  .  ;  that  they  should  seek  God,  if 
haply  they  might  feel  after  him  and  find  him, 
though  he  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us."* 

1  Acts  17.  26,  27. 


LECTURE  V 

THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS 

The  gods  of  the  Babylonians  are  known  to 
us  not  only  in  the  great  hymns  of  praise  which 
were  sung  to  their  mighty  names,  or  in  incanta- 
tions wherein  they  were  besought  to  drive  out 
evil  demons  and  restore  the  boon  of  good  health  ; 
they  are  known  even  more  in  that  immense 
mythology,    of   which   we   already   possess   so 
much  that  several  lectures  ought  to  be  given 
to  it.    Moving  as  some  of  the  hymns  surely  are, 
they  nevertheless  have  little  of  the  human  in- 
terest  which   belongs   to   the   story.     All   the 
world  loves  the  story-teller,  and  these  stories 
in  which  gods  and  demons  and  men  walk  and 
talk  together  possess  even  to  this  day  a  fascina- 
tion all  their  own.     We  cannot,   indeed,   use 
them  as  sources  for  the  reconstruction  of  the 
theological  system,  for  they  have  all  been  sub- 
ject to  change,  the  story  itself  running  away 
from  the  speculations  among  which  it  took  its 
rise.     We  cannot  distinguish  the  part  that  is 
original   from   that   which   the   author   or   his 
school  added  to  it.    The  old  ideas  may  still  be 
in  hiding  beneath  the  literary  color,  or  they 
may   all   have   been   explained   away   by   the 
mediating  tendencies  of  a  later  age. 

185 


186      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

But  however  useless  as  sources  of  theology, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  interest  to  all 
students  of  religion,  and  especially  to  all  stu- 
dents of  the  Old  Testament,  for  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  some  of  them,  at  least,  have  flowed 
over  their  natural  boundaries  and  found  new 
channels  amid  the  kindred  people  of  Israel. 

For  the  most  part  the  Babylonian  poems  of 
mythical  character  have  a  god  or  hero  about 
whom  the  little  story  revolves;  when  this  cen- 
tral figure  is  surrounded  by  other  gods  or 
heroes  whose  deeds  or  adventures  move  around 
him,  or  interweave  with  his,  the  poem  has  be- 
come an  epic. 

Many  of  the  short  stories  and  some  of  the 
larger  epics  have  come  down  to  us,  but  they 
apparently  form  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
great  literature  that  once  existed.  A  cata- 
logue of  such  works  was  found  in  the  library 
of  Ashurbanipal,  on  which  we  find  the  titles 
of  several  which  have  been  recovered  in  mod- 
ern times,  such  as,  'The  Story  of  Gilgames/' 
'The  Story  of  Etana,"  'The  Story  of  the  Fox/' 
'The  Story  of  the  Ox  and  of  the  Horse/'  the 
royal  legend  of  "Sargon  the  powerful  king/'  all 
of  which  are  more  or  less  known  to  us.  But  in 
the  same  list  we  read  of  'The  powerful  Bull," 
"When  the  Euphrates  arose,"  "Adapa  came  to 
[Nippur?]/'  "When  Marduk  in  Sumer  and 
Akkad,"  none  of  which  have  come  down  to  us 
even  in  fragments. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  187 

The  largest  part  of  the  myths  and  epics 
which  have  been  preserved  for  us  came  from 
the  Ubrary  of  Ashurbanipal,  and  the  originals 
from  which  they  were  copied  have  not  yet 
been  found.  There  is  always  the  hope  that 
they  may  yet  be  recovered  when  the  numerous 
city  mounds  in  Babylonia  are  excavated.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  have  the  originals  for 
comparison,  in  order  to  see  how  far  they  may 
have  been  changed  in  the  process  of  editing  and 
copying. 

Among  the  Tell-el-Amarna  tablets,  about 
1400  B.C.,  we  have  recovered  portions  of  the 
story  of  Nerigal  and  EreshkigaP  and  the  chief 
portions  of  the  Adapa  story.  From  the  period 
of  the  first  Babylonian  dynasty,  about  2000 
B.C.,  we  have  recovered  portions  of  the  Atrak- 
hasis  myth,  the  Gilgames  epic,  and  the  deluge 
story.  But  all  the  epics  and  myths  which  be- 
long to  the  Ashurbanipal  library  may,  with 
reasonable  certainty,  be  traced  back  in  their 
origin  to  that  same  wonderful  period  of  intel- 
lectual and  political  development,  distinguished 
for  us  chiefly  by  the  great  name  of  Hammurabi. 


1  The  very  fragmentary  text  is  published  by  Bezold  and  Budge,  The 
Tdl-el-Amarna  Tablets  in  the  British  Museum  (London,  1892),  plate  17; 
compare  Bezold  in  Oriental  Diplomacy,  No.  82.  Winckler  and  Abel,  Der 
Thontafelfund  von  el  Amarna  (Berlin,  1889,  1890),  pp.  164ff.;  compare 
Knudtzon,  Beitrage  zur  Assyriologie,  iv,  pp.  130ff.  It  is  translated  by 
Jensen,  Keilinschriftliche  Bibliothek,  vi,  1,  pp.  74ff.  Compare  also  Zim- 
mern,  Die  Keilinschriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  3te  Auf.,  p.  583f.  It 
will  appear  again  in  a  revised  transliteration  and  translation  by  Knudt- 
zon, Die  El-Amarna  Tafcln  (Vorderasiatische  Bibliothek)  No.  357,  but  it 
has  not  yet  been  published  (Oct.,  1908). 


188      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

And  now  how  shall  we  choose  from  these  rich 
storehouses  of  myth  and  story,  too  numerous 
to  quote  in  full,  too  many  even  to  tell  in  outline? 
Let  us  begin  with  the  story  of  Adapa :  ^ 

He  possessed  intelligence 

His  command,  like  the  command  of  Anu,  starids  for  aye. 
Ea  granted  him  also  a  wide  ear^  to  reveal  the  destiny  of 

the  land, 
He  granted  him  wisdom,  but  he  did  not  grant  him  eternal 

life. 

This  semi-divine  being  Adapa,  son  of  Ea,  serves 
in  Ea's  temple  at  Eridu,  supplying  the  ritual 
bread  and  water.  One  day,  while  fishing  in  the 
sea,  the  south  wind  swept  sharply  upon  him, 
overturned  his  boat,  and  he  fell  into  the  sea, 
the  '^house  of  the  fishes."  Angered  by  his  mis- 
fortune, he  broke  the  wings  of  the  south  wind, 
and  for  seven  days  it  was  unable  to  bring  the 
comfort  of  the  sea  coolness  over  the  hot  land. 
And  Anu  said: 

"Why  has  the  south  wind  for  seven  days  not  blown  over 

the  land?" 
His  messenger  Ilabrat  answered  him :  "My  lord, 
Adapa,  the  son  of  Ea,  hath  broken  the  wing  of 
The  south  wind." 


1  The  chief  portions,  in  a  fragmentary  condition,  come  from,  the  Tell-el- 
Amarna  collection.  Jensen,  KeUinschriftliche  Bibliothek,  vi,  1,  pp.  92ff.; 
see  also  in  Vorwort,  pp.  xviif.  Translation  and  also  the  original  texts  in 
Scheil,  Recueil,  xx,  pp.  4ff.  Zimmem  in  Archiv  fur  Religionswissenschaft, 
ii,  165ff.  Keilinschriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  3te  Auf.,  p.  520flf.  Jere- 
mias  in  Roscher,  Lexicon,  iii,  2357,  and  also  in  Das  Alte  Testament  im 
Lichte  des  alten  Orients,  2te  Auf.,  p.  168.  Dhorme,  Choi.v  de  Textes 
Religieux  Assyro-Babyloniens,  pp.  148ff. 

2  "A  wide  ear"  is  a  frequent  metaphor  for  "understanding." 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  189 

Then  Anu  ordered  the  culprit  brought  before 
him,  and  before  he  departed  to  this  ordeal  Ea 
gave  him  instructions.  He  is  to  go  up  to  the 
gatekeepers  of  heaven,  Tammuz  and  Gish-zida, 
clad  in  mourning  garb  to  excite  their  sym- 
pathy. When  they  ask  why  he  is  thus  attired 
he  is  to  tell  them  that  his  mourning  is  for  two 
gods  of  earth  who  have  disappeared  (that  is, 
themselves),  and  then  the}^  will  intercede  for 
him.  Furthermore,  he  is  cautioned  not  to  eat 
the  food  or  drink  the  water  that  will  be  set 
before  him,  for  Ea  fears  that  food  and  water  of 
death  will  be  set  before  him  to  destroy  him. 
But  exactly  the  opposite  happened.  Tammuz 
and  Gish-zida  prevailed  in  pleading,  and  Anu 
said: 

"Bring  for  him  food  of  life  that  he  may  eat  it."  They 
brought  him  food  of  Hfe,  but  he  did  not  eat — They 
brought  him  water  of  hfe,  but  he  did  not  drink.  They 
brought  him  a  garment ;  he  put  it  on.  They  brought  him 
oil;  he  anointed  himself  with  it. 

Adapa  had  obeyed  Ea  literally,  and  by  so 
doing  had  missed  the  priceless  boon  of  immor- 
tality. 

For  us  the  beautiful  myth  is  interesting  as 
showing  how  similar  are  certain  ideas  and 
motives  in  the  Uteratures  of  Israel  and  Baby- 
lonia. There  is,  indeed,  no  relationship  be- 
tween the  name  Adapa  and  the  name  Adam, 
as  has  been  supposed  by  some,  but  Adapa 
served  as  a  type  of  mankind,  as  does  Adam, 


190      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

and  the  ''food  of  life"  seems  to  belong  to  the 
same  category  as  the  ''tree  of  hfe"  in  Genesis. 
In  Babylonia  there  appears  to  have  been  a  doc- 
trine that  man,  though  of  divine  origin,  made 
of  Marduk's  own  bone  and  blood,  nevertheless 
did  not  share  in  the  divine  attribute  of  immor- 
tality. Adam  lost  immortality  because  he  de- 
sired to  become  like  God;  Adapa,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  already  endowed  with  knowledge  and 
wisdom,  and  failed  of  immortality  not  because 
he  was  disobedient,  like  Adam,  but  because  he 
was  obedient  to  Ea,  his  creator.  The  legend  is 
the  Babylonian  attempt  to  explain  death; 
Adapa  did  not  secure  immortality,  and  no 
mortal  has  ever  again  had  the  opportunity  to 
attain  it.  Adam  was  banished  from  the  garden 
of  Eden  "lest  he  should  put  forth  his  hand,  and 
take  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for- 
ever,"* while  in  the  Babylonian  myth  Anu 
really  desired  to  confer  immortality  upon  Adapa 
because  he  thought  it  not  fitting  that  he  should 
have  the  wisdom  of  the  gods  and  yet  fail  of 
their  immortality.  As  Sayce  has  well  said, 
"Babylonian  polytheism  allowed  the  existence 
of  divided  counsels  among  the  gods;  the  mono- 
theism of  Israel  made  this  impossible.  There 
was  no  second  Jahweh  to  act  in  contradiction 
to  the  first;  Jahweh  was  at  once  the  creator  of 
man  and  the  God  of  heaven,  and  there  was 
none  to  dispute  his  will.    There  is  no  room  for 

1  Gen.  3.  22. 


FIGURE  XV.— THE  DESCENT  OF  ISHTAR  TO  HADES 

Assyrian  Clay  Tablet  in  the  British  Museum 

Size  of  the  original,  9i  by  3i  inches 

Obverse 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  191 

Anu  in  the  book  of  Genesis;  and  as  Ea,  the 
creator  of  Adapa,  was  unwilling  that  the  man 
he  had  created  should  become  an  immortal  god, 
so  Jahweh,  the  creator  of  Adam,  similarly 
denied  to  him  the  food  of  immortal  Hfe."^ 

If  the  myth  of  Adapa  is  interesting  in  the 
story  itself,  and  also  in  its  revelation  of  the 
Babylonian  ideas  of  the  immortal  life,  the 
story  of  Ishtar's  descent  into  the  abode  of  the 
dead  is  still  more  illimiinating  as  revealing  the 
popular  ideas  as  well  as  the  theological  concep- 
tions of  the  abode  of  the  dead.  The  story  is  so 
important  in  so  many  ways  that  we  shall  do 
well  to  have  it  before  us  in  translation  instead 
of  in  mere  paraphrase  ^ : 

To  the  land  of  No-return,  the  earth 

Ishtar,  the  daughter  of  Sin,  directed  her  thought,^ 
The  daughter  of  Sin  directed  her  thought, 
To  the  house  of  darkness,  Irkalla's  dwelling  place, 
5  To  the  house  from  which  he  who  enters  never  returns. 
To  the  road  whose  path  turns  not  back. 
To  the  house  where  he  who  enters  is  deprived  of 

light, 
Where  dust  is  their  sustenance,  their  food  clay, 
Light  they  see  not,  in  darkness  do  they  sit. 


1  Sayce,  The  Religions  of  Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  p.  3S5. 

2  The  original  text  is  in  IV  R.,  2d  edition,  31,  and  in  Cuneiform  Texts, 
XV,  pi.  45-48.  A.  Jeremias,  in  Roscher,  Lexicon  der  Griechischen  und 
Romischen  Mythologie,  iii,  1,  col.  258ff. ;  also  by  the  same,  Holle  und 
Parodies,  Der  Alte  Orient,  i,  3te  Aufl.  Jensen,  Keilinschriftliche  Bib- 
liothek,  vi,  1.  pp.  SOff.  Zimmern,  Die  Kcilinschriften  und  das  Alte  Testa- 
ment, 3te  Aufl.,  pp.  561ff.  Dhorme,  Choix  de  Textes  Religieux  Assyro- 
Babyloniens,  pp.  326ff. 

'  Literally,  placed  her  ear. 


192      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

10  They  are  clothed  like  a  bird,  with  wings  as  a  covering, 

Over  door  and  bolt  is  spread  the  dust. 

Ishtar,  when  she  came  to  the  door  of  land  of  No- 
return, 

Addressed  the  word  to  the  porter  of  the  door: 

"0  porter,  open  the  door, 
15  Open  the  door  that  I  may  enter. 

If  thou  dost  not  open  the  door,  and  I  enter  not, 

I  will  shatter  the  door,  I  will  break  the  bolt, 

I  will  shatter  the  threshold,  I  will  tear  down  the 
doors, 

I  will  bring  up  the  dead  that  they  may  eat  and  live, 
20  The  dead  more  numerous  than  the  living  shall  return." 

The  porter  opened  his  mouth  and  spake, 

He  spake  to  the  great  Ishtar: 

"Patience,  my  lady,  do  not  destroy, 

I  will  go,  I  will  announce  thy  name  to  my  sovereign, 
Ereshkigal." 
25  The  porter  went  within,  he  spake  to  Ereshkigal: 

"It  is  thy  sister  Ishtar  . 

The  enmity  of  the  great  houses  of  joy " 

When  Ereshkigal  heard  that 

As  when  one  cuts  down  the  tamarisk, 
30  As  when  one  breaks  the  reed  ....  she  said: 

"What  does  her  heart  wish  of  me?     Why  has  her 
wind  borne  her  to  me? 

These  waters  have  I  with 

For  food  I  eat  the  clay,  for  drink  will  I  drink  .... 

I  will  weep  for  the  men  who  have  left  their  wives, 
35  I  will  weep  for  the  women  torn  from  their  master's 
bosom, 

I  will  weep  for  the  little  children  snatched  away 
before  their  day. 

Go,  porter,  open  the  gate, 

Do  unto  her  according  to  the  ancient  custom." 

The  porter  went  and  opened  for  her  his  gate: 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  193 

40  "Enter,  my  lady,  Cutha^  greets  thee. 

May  the  palace  of  the  land  of  No-return  be  glad  at 
thy  presence." 

As  she  passes  through  the  seven  gates  of  this 
lower  world  the  various  articles  of  her  clothing 
are  taken  away.  At  the  first  gate  her  crown  is 
removed,  at  the  next  her  earrings,  at  the  third 
her  necklace,  then  her  breastplate,  then  her 
studded  girdle,  at  the  sixth  her  hand  and  foot 
ornaments,  and  at  the  seventh  her  loincloth,  so 
that  she  enters  the  presence  of  Ereshkigal  quite 
nude.  There  no  mercy  was  shown  her;  she 
was  afflicted  with  sixty  diseases,  and  was  im- 
prisoned like  the  ordinary  dead.  While  thus  in 
bondage  beneath,  the  world  above  fell  into 
hopeless  disorder,  neither  cattle  nor  men  pro- 
duced offspring,  and  the  fertility  of  the  land 
ceased. 

Reverse  : 

Pap-sukal,   the  messenger  of  the  great  gods,  with 

countenance  downcast  before  Shamash, 
Was  clad  in  sackcloth,  he  wore  a  dark  vestment. 
Shamash  came  into  the  presence  of  Sin,  his  father, 

weeping, 
In  the  presence  of  Ea,  the  king,  his  tears  ran  down. 
5  "Ishtar  has  gone  down  into  the  earth,  and  she  has 
not  returned." 

Ea  created  Asushunamir,  and  before  him  the 
gates  of  Hades  opened,  he  sprinkled  Ishtar  with 

'  An  important  city  of  southern  Babylonia,  the  seat  of  the  worship  of 
Nergal,  and  hence  a  poetical  designation  of  the  lower  world. 


194      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

the  water  of  life,  and  then  she  returned  to  the 
upper  world,  receiving  at  each  gate  upon  her 
return  the  objects  of  adornment  which  she  had 
left  upon  her  entrance.  It  is  a  rather  gloomy- 
future  life  that  the  poem  reveals,  but  we  shall 
do  well  to  heed  the  caution,  already  expressed, 
that  these  myths  are  not  to  be  taken  as  theo- 
logical sources.  The  view  of  the  abode  of  the 
dead,  as  held  by  intelligent  Babylonians,  may 
have  been  very  different,  even  at  the  same  time 
that  this  interesting  and  beautiful  poem  was 
most  highly  esteemed. 

The  greatest  of  all  the  stories  of  Babylonia  is 
the  story  of  Gilgames,^  for  in  it  the  greatest  of 
the  myths  seem  to  pour  into  one  great  stream 
of  epic.  It  was  written  upon  twelve  big  tablets 
in  the  library  of  Ashurbanipal,  which  have  un- 
fortunately been  much  broken  in  the  crash  of 
time.  It  was  copied  from  older  tablets,  and, 
like  most  of  the  best  mythological  literature, 
goes  back  to  the  earliest  dynasty  of  Babylon. 

The  first  tablet  introduces  Gilgames  as  the 
great  hero  with  a  number  of  mighty  deeds  to 


^  The  original  text  of  the  Gilgames  Epic  is  published  in  Haupt,  Das 
Babylonische  Nitnrod-Epos.  Compare  also  Beitrage  zur  Assyriologie,  i, 
49ff.,  97ff.  See  also  IV  R.,  2d  edition,  41-44.  Jeremias,  Izdubar-Nimrod, 
eine  altbabylonische  Beschworungslegende.  Leipzig,  1891.  Sauveplane, 
Une  Epop6e  bnbylonienne,  in  Revue  des  Religions,  1892,  pp.  37ff.  Jensen, 
Keilinschriftliche  Bibliothek,  vi,  1,  pp.  116ff.  and  421ff.  Dhorme,  Choix 
de  Textes  Religieux  Assyro-Babylonienne,  pp.  182ff.  On  the  eleventh 
tablet  the  literature  is  extensive;  I  mention  here  only  the  following, 
from  which  the  rest  of  the  literature  may  be  sought  out:  Zimmern  in 
Gunkel,  Schopfimg  und  Chaos,  pp.  423ff. ;  Winckler,  Keilinschriftliches 
Textbuch  zum  Alien  Testament,  2te  Auf.,  pp.  84ff. 


FIGURE  XVI.— THE  DESCENT  OF  ISHTAR  TO  HADES 
Reverse 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  195 

his  honor.  In  Uruk  he  is  the  ruler,  and  im- 
presses all  the  young  men  into  the  hard  labor 
of  building  the  city  walls.  The  whole  city 
complains,  and  their  cries  rise  even  unto  the 
heavenly  gods,  against  their  unpopular  king. 
They  besought  the  goddess  Aruru,  who  had 
created  Gilgames,  to  create  a  rival  for  him, 
that  he  might  draw  the  attention  of  the  tyrant 
to  other  things. 

Column  II: 

When  Aruru  heard  this,  she  made  in  her  heart  a  man 

after  the  likeness  of  Anu. 
Aruru  washed  her  hands,  took  a  piece  of  clay,  and 

cast  it  on  the  ground. 
35  Eabani  she  created,  the  hero,  a  lofty  offspring,  a 

ruler  of  Ninib. 
His  whole  body  is  covered  with  hair;  he  had  long 

hair  on  his  head  like  a  woman. 

The hair  of  his  head  swept  like  the  grain. 

He  knew  not  people  and  land.     He  was  dressed  in 

garments  like  Gir.     With  the  gazelles  he  ate 

the  herbs, 
40  He  quenched  his  thirst  with  the  beasts, 

With  the  beasts  his  heart  rejoiced  in  the  water. 

In  this  free  life  among  the  beasts  Eabani  came 
in  conflict  with  a  huntsman,  who  complained  to 
his  father  and  then  to  Gilgames.  On  the  advice 
of  these  two  the  hunter  took  with  him  a  maiden 
whose  charms  enchained  Eabani  and  induced 
him  to  follow  her  to  Uruk.  There  he  met  Gil- 
games, and  the  first  tablet  concludes  mth  the 
beginning  of  friendship  between  them. 


196      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

The  beginning  of  the  second  tablet  is  so  badly 
broken  that  fifty  lines  are  wanting.  From 
some  fragments  we  are  able  to  make  out  that 
Gilgames  was  unhappy  because  he  could  see 
that  Eabani  was  yearning  for  the  wide  field 
and  the  friendly  beasts,  and  was  cursing  the 
harlot  that  had  enticed  him  away  from  them. 
But  the  sun  god  Shamash  called  to  him  out  of 
heaven  that  she  had  brought  him  only  to  good, 
to  divine  food  and  royal  drink  and  festival  garb, 
and  to  Gilgames  who  would  give  him  the  highest 
place  in  Uruk  by  himself.  Then  a  terrible 
dream  comes  to  Eabani,  a  dream  which  be- 
tokens his  own  speedy  death.  The  nether 
world  appears  before  him  as  a  land  of  darkness 
and  gloom,  as  it  did  in  the  story  of  Ishtar  which 
we  have  just  been  reading.  The  tablet  con- 
cludes with  an  account  of  a  journey  which  Gil- 
games and  Eabani  are  to  undertake.  In  the 
third  tablet,  which  has  also  come  down  in  a 
badly  broken  condition,  Gilgames  seeks  bless- 
ings on  the  journey  to  the  cedar  mountain  in 
the  east,  where  Khumbaba  is  the  warder.  In 
the  fourth  tablet  Khumbaba  is  described ;  and  his 
fearful  voice  so  terrifies  Eabani  that  Gilgames 
must  reassure  him  before  he  will  take  up  the 
journey  again.  In  the  fifth  tablet  we  read 
how  Gilgames  and  Eabani  came  at  last  to  the 
great  cedar  mountain.  There  they  stood,  filled 
with  wonder  at  the  high  cedar  tree  of  which 
lOiumbaba  was  the  warder.    The  cedar  moun- 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  197 

tain  is  the  home  of  the  gods,  and  above  all  of 
Ishtar.  There  again  did  Eabani  dream,  and 
Gilgames  interpreted  his  dreams  as  of  good 
augury  for  their  contest  with  Khumbaba.  At 
the  end  of  the  tablet  their  victory  over  the 
keeper  of  the  forest  is  told.  In  tablet  six  we 
reach  a  climax  in  the  story.  Ishtar  is  overcome 
with  love  for  the  hero,  so  strong  in  his  beauty, 
and  appeals  to  him  to  become  her  husband. 
He  spurns  her  advances,  and  reminds  her  that 
it  had  fared  ill  with  her  former  husbands,  who 
were  dead,  and  a  like  fate  he  fears  for  himself 
if  he  should  accept  her  offer  of  marriage.  Ishtar 
is  filled  with  rage  and  chagrin,  and  mounting  up 
to  heaven  appears  before  Anu  and  Antum,  be- 
seeching the  great  god  to  create  a  heaven-bull 
who  shall  destroy  Gilgames.  But  the  bull  goes 
down  to  destruction  before  the  two  heroes,  and 
Gilgames  and  Eabani  return  to  Erech  to  be 
received  by  the  inhabitants  in  a  burst  of  joyous 
acclaim. 

Who  is  beautiful  among  men?  ' 

Who  is  glorious  among  heroes? 

Gilgames  is  beautiful  among  men, 

Gilgames  is  glorious  among  heroes. 

Gilgames  makes  a  feast  in  his  palace,  but  when 
men  lie  down  to  sweet  sleep  Eabani  again  sees 
a  vision  in  his  sleep.  In  the  seventh  tablet,  of 
which  only  a  small  portion  remains,  we  hear  of 
a  sore  illness  of  Eabani,  which  is  described 
further  in  the  eighth  tablet,  and  then  comes  his 


198      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

death,  and  the  terrible  lament  of  Gilgames.  In 
the  ninth  tablet  Gilgames  laments  his  friend 
and  goes  away  into  the  wilderness,  fearful  lest 
a  similar  fate  befall  himself,  and  anxious  to  find 
his  ancestor  Ut-napishtim,  who  had  long  since 
been  carried  away  to  the  life  beyond.  The 
journey  lies  over  mountains,  perhaps  the  Leb- 
anon and  Anti-Lebanon  range,  where  scorpion- 
men  bar  the  way.  At  first  the  scorpion-man 
advises  against  the  mad  enterprise,  but  at 
length  encourages  him  to  go  on.  Over  the 
mountains  he  makes  his  way,  and  at  length 
comes  out  to  a  park  of  the  gods,  which  seems 
to  have  been  situated  on  the  side  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea  on  the  Phoenician  coast.  There 
he  finds  the  goddess  Siduri-Sabitu,  seated  upon 
the  throne  of  the  sea,  and  threatens  to  break 
down  her  barred  doors  if  she  does  not  admit 
him.  Once  admitted,  the  goddess  inquires  why 
he  looks  so  distraught,  and  why  he  has  wan- 
dered so  far.  He  tells  her  the  story  of  Eabani's 
great  deeds,  and  of  his  death,  and  of  how  he, 
fearing  that  he  also  would  so  die  and  never 
rise  again,  had  set  out  upon  this  journey.  He 
asks  her  the  way  to  Ut-napishtim,  and  how  he 
could  go.  She  warns  him  that  the  way  thither 
leads  over  the  great  sea  of  death,  a  journey  that 
none  but  Shamash,  the  sun  god,  may  make; 
but  at  last  tells  him  of  the  sailor  of  Ut-napish- 
tim, who  may  perhaps  be  induced  to  help  him 
over  the  sea  thither.    The  sailor  takes  him  on 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  199 

the  journey,  and  after  three  days  they  surprise 
Ut-napishtim,  who  asks  the  same  questions  as 
Sabitu  concerning  his  appearance  and  his 
journey,  which  are  answered  by  Gilgames  with 
the  same  account  of  Eabani.  After  this  there 
comes  a  most  unfortunate  break  in  the  tablet, 
and  then  its  concluding  lines.  The  eleventh 
tablet  begins  with  a  continuation  of  the  dia- 
logue between  Ut-napishtim  and  Gilgames,  and 
soon  we  are  swept  out  into  the  great  story  of 
the  deluge: 

Gilgames  said  to  him,  to  Ut-napishtim,  the  far-away: 
"I  consider  thee,  O  Ut-napishtim, 
Thy  appearance  is  not  changed,  thou  art  hke  me. 
Thou  art  not  different,  thou  art  hke  me, 
5  Thy  heart  is  in  perfect  state,  to  make  a  combat. 
Thou  dost  he  down  upon  thy  side,  and  upon  thy 

back. 
Tell  me,  how  hast  thou  been  exalted,  and  amid  the 

assembly  of  the  gods  hast  found  life?" 
Ut-napishtim  spoke  to  him,  to  Gilgames: 
"I  will  reveal  to  thee,  O  Gilgames,  the  hidden  word, 
10  And  the  decision  of  the  gods  will  I  announce  to  thee." 

And  now  bdgns  the  story  of  the  flood,  noblest 
and  most  beautiful  of  all  the  stories  which  this 
gifted  people  have  written: 

Shurippak,  a  city  which  thou  knowest, 
Which  lies  on  the  bank  of  the  Euphrates. 
That  city  was  very  old,  and  the  heart  of  the  gods 
Within  it  drove  them  to  send  a  flood,  the  great  gods; 
15  There  were  their  father  Anu, 
Their  counselor  the  warrior  Bel, 


200      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Their  messenger  Ninib, 
Their  director  Ennugi. 

The  lord  of  wisdom,  Ea,  counseled  with  them 
20  And  repeated  their  word  to  the  reed-hut: 
"0  reed-hut,  reed-hut,  O  wall,  wall, 

0  reed-hut,  hearken,  O  wall,  attend!" 

These  rather  curious  and  difficult  hnes  seem  to 
mean  that  the  house  of  Ut-napishtim  is  ad- 
dressed directly  by  the  god  Ea,  and  then  the 
man  himself.  This  is  an  interesting  variant 
from  the  later  statement  in  the  same  poem  (see 
line  196)  that  a  dream  was  the  means  of  com- 
munication. Berosus  also  says  that  Kronos 
appeared  to  him  in  sleep  and  revealed  the 
deluge.  And  now  comes  the  direct  address  to 
him: 

"O  man  of  Shurippak,  son  of  Ubaratutu, 

Pull  down  thy  house,  build  a  ship, 
25  Leave  thy  possessions,  take  thought  for  thy  life, 

Thy  property  abandon,  save  thy  life, 

Bring  living  seed  of  every  kind  into  the  ship. 

The  ship  that  thou  shalt  build, 

So  shall  be  the  measure  of  its  dimensions, 
30  Thus  shall  correspond  its  breadth  and  height, 

Into  the  ocean  let  it  fare." 

1  understood  it,  and  spake  to  Ea,  my  lord, 

" ,  my  lord,  as  thou  hast  commanded 

I  will  observe,  and  will  execute  it. 
35  But  what  shall  I  say  to  the  city,  the  people  and  the 
elders?" 
Ea  opened  his  mouth  and  spake, 
He  said  unto  me  his  servant, 
"Thou  shalt  so  say  unto  them, 
'Because  Bel  hates  me, 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  201 

40  No  longer  may  I  dwell  in  your  city,  nor  remain  on 
Bel's  earth. 
Into  the  ocean  must  I  fare,  with  Ea,  my  lord,  to 
dwell.'  " 

The  god  who  is  here  represented  as  causing 
the  flood  is  the  older  Bel,  whose  name  was  EUil, 
the  god  of  Nippur;  but  the  story  as  it  has  come 
down  to  us  is  a  later  recension  in  which  other 
gods,  notably  Adad,  who  belongs  to  a  later 
theological  development,  have  been  introduced. 
Professor  Jastrow  is  clearly  right  in  seeing  the 
evidences  of  two  separate  versions  combined 
into  one.  In  one  of  these  Shurippak  was  the 
object  of  the  god's  anger,  in  the  other  the  flood 
was  universal;  in  one  probably  EUil  alone 
caused  the  flood,  in  the  other  a  council  of  the 
gods  was  called  to  decide  the  matter.  The 
latter  part  of  the  first  tablet  is  badly  broken, 
and  is  also  comparatively  unimportant  for  the 
main  story.  I  begin  the  translation  again  with 
the  second  tablet,  which  describes  the  building 
of  the  ship : 

120  cubits  high  were  its  sides, 

140  cubits  reached  the  edge  of  its  roof, 
60  I  traced  its  hull,  I  designed  it 

I  built  it  in  six  stories, 

I  divided  it  in  seven  parts. 

Its  interior  I  divided  into  nine  parts. 

I  strengthened  it  within  against  the  water. 
65  I  prepared  a  rudder,  and  laid  down  the  tackle. 

Three  sars  of  bitumen  I  poured  over  the  outside  (?), 

Three  sars  of  bitumen  I  poured  over  the  inside, 


202      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

Three  sars  of  oil  the  stevedores  brought  up. 

Besides  a  sar  of  oil  which  men  use  as  a  libation, 
70  The  shipbuilder  used  two  sars  of  oil. 

For  the  people  I  slaughtered  a  bullock, 

I  slew  lambs  daily. 

Of  must,  beer,  oil,  and  wine 

I  gave  the  people  to  drink  like  water  from  the  river, 
75  A  festival  I  made,  like  the  days  of  the  feast  of  Aqitu.* 

81  With  all  that  I  had  I  filled  it  (the  ship). 

With  all  that  I  had  of  silver  I  filled  it. 

With  all  that  I  had  of  gold  I  filled  it. 

With  all  that  I  had  of  living  things  I  filled  it. 
85  I  brought  up  into  the  ship  my  family  and  household, 

The  cattle  of  the  field,  the  beasts  of  the  field,  crafts- 
men all  of  them  I  brought  in. 

A  fixed  time  had  Shamash  appointed,  (saying,) 

"When  the  ruler  of  darkness  sends  a  heavy  rain, 

Then  enter  into  the  ship  and  close  the  door." 
90  The  appointed  time  came  near. 

The  rulers  of  the  kukku  in  the  evening  sent  heavy 
rain. 

The  dawning  of  that  day  I  feared, 

I  feared  to  behold  that  day. 

I  entered  the  ship  and  closed  the  door. 
95  To  the  ship's  master,  to  Puzur-Bel,  the  sailor, 

I  intrusted  the  building  with  its  goods. 

When  the  first  flush  of  dawn  appeared 

There  came  up  from  the  horizon  a  black  cloud. 

Adad  thundered  within  it, 
100  While  Nabu  and  Marduk  went  before. 

They  go  as  messengers  over  mountain  and  valley. 

Nergal  bore  away  the  anchor. 

Ninib  advances,  the  storm  he  makes  to  descend. 

The  Anunnaki  lifted  up  their  torches. 


1  Aqitu,  the  New  Year's  Feast. 


w 
o 

w 

Q 

o  ;;^ 

S  ■'^'  s 

O  K    u 

Han 

«3  '■'  .L" 

W  Pi  * 

K  o 

H  0) 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  203 

105  With  their  brightness  they  light  up  the  land. 

Adad's  storm  reached  unto  heaven, 

All  light  was  turned  unto  darkness, 

It  [flooded]  the  land  like 

the  storm 

110  Raged  high,  [the  water  climbed  over]  the  mountains, 

Like  a  besom  of  destruction  they  brought  it  upon  men, 

No  man  beheld  his  fellow. 

No  more  were  men  recognized  in  heaven. 

The  gods  feared  the  deluge, 
115  They  drew  back,  they  climbed  up  to  the  heaven  of 
Anu. 

The  gods  crouched  like  a  dog,  they  cowered  by  the 
wall. 

Ishtar  cried  like  a  woman  in  travail. 

The  queen  of  the  gods  cried  with  a  loud  voice : 

"The  former  race  is  turned  to  clay, 
120  Since  I  commanded  evil  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods. 

When  I  commanded  evil  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods, 

For  the  destruction  of  my  people  I  commanded  a 
combat. 

That  which  I  brought  forth,  where  is  it? 

Like  the  spawn  of  fish  it  fills  the  sea." 
125  The  gods  of  the  Anuimaki  wept  with  her. 

The  gods  sat  bowed  and  weeping. 

Covered  were  their  lips. 

Six  days  and  nights 

Blew  the  wind,  the  deluge  and  the  tempest  over- 
whelmed the  land. 
130  When  the  seventh  day  drew  nigh,  the  tempest  ceased; 
the  deluge. 

Which  had  fought  like  an  army,  ended. 

Then  rested  the  sea,  the  storm  fell  asleep,  the  flood 
ceased. 

I  looked  upon  the  sea,  while  I  sent  forth  my  wail. 

All  mankind  was  turned  to  clay. 


204      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

135  Like  a  swamp  the  field  lay  before  me.^ 

I  opened  the  window  and  the  light  fell  upon  my  face, 

I  bowed,  I  sat  down,  I  wept, 

And  over  my  face  ran  my  tears. 

I  looked  upon  the  world,  all  was  sea. 
140  After  twelve  days(?)^  the  land  emerged. 

To  the  land  of  Nisir  the  ship  made  its  way, 

The  mount  of  Nisir  held  it  fast,  that  it  moved  not. 

One  day,  a  second  day  did  the  mount  of  Nisir  hold  it. 

A  third  day,  a  fourth  day  did  the  mount  of  Nisir 
hold  it. 
145  A  fifth  day,  a  sixth  day  did  the  mount  of  Nisir  hold  it. 

When  the  seventh  day  approached 

I  sent  forth  a  dove  and  let  her  go. 

The  dove  flew  to  and  fro. 

But  there  was  no  resting  place  and  she  returned. 
150  I  sent  forth  a  swallow  and  let  her  go, 

The  swallow  flew  to  and  fro. 

But  there  was  no  resting  place  and  she  returned. 

I  sent  forth  a  raven  and  let  her  go. 

The  raven  flew  away,  she  saw  the  abatement  of  the 
waters, 
155  She  drew  near,  she  waded(?),  she  croaked,  and  came 
not  back. 

Then  I  sent  everything  forth  to  the  four  quarters  of 
heaven,  I  offered  sacrifice, 

I  made  a  libation  upon  the  mountain's  peak. 


1  The  line  is  at  present,  at  least,  hopelessly  difficiilt  and  doubtful. 
The  translations  ofifered  diverge  widely,  of  which  these  naay  serve  as 
specimens: 

Sowie  das  Tageslicht  herangekommen  war,  betete  ich.     (Jensen.) 
Wie  uri  breitete  sich  aus  vor  mir  das  Gefild.    (Winckler,  Jeremias.) 
Jusqu'  aux  toits  atteignait  le  niarais.     (Dhorme.) 
Like  the  surrounding  field  had  become  the  bed  of  the  rivers.     (Muss- 

Arnolt.) 
In  place  of  fields  there  lay  before  me  a  swamp.     (King.) 

2  Very  doubtful.  Many  solutions  have  been  proposed.  Twelve  double 
hours(?)  (Jeremias). 


FIGURE  XIX.— THE  STORY  OF  THE   DELUGE 

Assyrian  Clay  Tatjlet  in  tlie  British  Museum 

Size  of  the  original,  5J  by  5J  inches 

Obverse 

A  duplicate  of  Figures  XVII  and  X\'III 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  205 

By  sevens  I  set  out  the  sacrificial  vessels, 

Beneath  them  I  heaped  up  reed  and  cedar  wood  and 

myrtle. 
160  The  gods  smelt  the  savor, 

The  gods  smelt  the  sweet  savor. 

The  gods  gathered  like  flies  over  the  sacrificer. 

When  at  last  the  Lady  of  the  gods  drew  near 

She  raised  the  rich  jewels,  which  Anu,  according  to 

her  wish,  had  made. 
165  "These  days,  by  the  jewels  about  my  neck,  I  shall 

not  forget. 
Upon  these  days  shall  I  think,  I  shall  never  forget 

them.* 
Let  the  gods  come  to  the  offering, 
But  let  Bel  come  not  to  the  offering, 
For  he  took  not  counsel,  and  sent  the  deluge, 
170  And  my  people  he  gave  to  destruction." 
When  at  last  Bel  drew  near 
He  saw  the  ship ;  then  was  Bel  wroth. 
He  was  filled  with  anger  against  the  gods  of  the 

Igigi: 
"Who  then  has  escaped  with  life? 
175  No  man  must  live  in  the  destruction!" 
Then  Ninib  opened  his  mouth  and  spake, 
He  said  to  the  warrior  Bel: 
"Who  but  Ea  created  things, 
And  Ea  knoweth  every  matter." 
180  Ea  opened  his  mouth,  and  spake. 
He  spake  to  the  warrior  Bel: 
"Thou  spokesman  among  the  gods,  warrior  Bel, 
Because  thou   wert  ill-advised,   didst  thou  send  a 

flood. 
On  the  sinner  lay  his  sin. 


>  In  the  Genesis  narrative  it  is  the  rainbow,  which  is  to  remind  God  of 
his  covenant  that  he  should  not  destroy  the  earth  again  by  a  flood  (Gen. 
9.  8-17).     In  the  Babylonian  story  Ishtar's  jewels  fulfill  this  function. 


206      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

185  On  the  transgressor  lay  his  transgression. 

Forbear,  let  not  all  be  destroyed,  let  not  the  inno- 
cent(?)  be  .  .  . 

Why  hast  thou  sent  a  deluge? 

Had  a  lion  come  and  mankind  lessened! 

Why  hast  thou  sent  a  deluge? 
190  Had  a  leopard  come  and  mankind  lessened? 

Why  hast  thou  sent  a  deluge? 

Had  a  famine  come  and  the  land  [destroyed !] 

Why  hast  thou  sent  a  deluge? 

Had  Nergal  come  and  mankind  [slain!] 
195  I  have  not  divulged  the  decision  of  the  great  gods. 

I  made  Atrakhasis^  see  a  dream,  and  so  he  heard  the 

god's  decision." 

This  last  passage  contains  a  most  interesting 
indication  of  the  differences  between  the  gods 
of  the  Babylonian  pantheon.  Here  is  Ea  up- 
braiding Bel  for  bringing  on  the  flood.  He 
thinks  that  he  might  have  pmiished  sinners  by 
a  lion,  by  a  leopard,  by  a  famine,  and  not  have 
brought  such  desolation  upon  the  whole  human 
family.  But  for  Ea's  intervention  even  the 
good  Ut-napishtim  might  also  have  perished. 
It  was  he  alone  who  saved  him  by  giving  a 
warning.  Bel  is  moved  by  the  reproof,  as  we 
shall  now  see: 


1  Atrakhasis  means  "the  very  clever"  {der  Erzgescheite,  Jeremias).  It 
is  here  a  sort  of  surname  of  Ut-napishtim.  There  are,  however,  some 
small  texts,  for  example,  British  Museum  DT,  42  (see  Jeremias,  Das  Alte 
Testament  im  Lichte  des  Alien  Orients,  2te  Auf.,  p.  233;  Winckler, 
Keilin"chriftliches  Texthuch  zum  Alten  Testaments,  2te  Auf.,  pp.  94f.), 
in  which  Atrakhasis  is  the  only  name  of  the  deluge  hero.  Berosus  calls 
the  Babylonian  Noah,  Xisuthros,  which  may  be  some  sort  of  metathesis 
of  tliis  Atrakhasis  (so  George  Smith);  but  see  Sayce,  The  Religions  of 
Ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  p.  436,  footnote  1. 


FIGURE  XX.— THE  STORY  OF  THE   DELUGE 

Reverse 

A  duplicate  of  Figures  XVII  and  XVIII 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  207 

When  he  came  to  reason, 
Bel  went  up  into  the  ship. 
He  took  my  hand,  [and]  brought  me  forth. 
200  He  brought  forth  my  wife,  and  made  her  kneel  at 

my  side, 
He  turned  us  toward  each  other,  he  stood  between  us, 

he  blessed  us: 
"Formerly  Ut-napishtim  was  of  mankind,  but 
Now  let  Ut-napishtim  and  his  wife  be  hke  the  gods, 

even  us, 
Lt  Ut-napishtim  dwell  afar  off  at  the  mouth  of  the 

rivers. 
205  They  took  me  and  afar  off,  at  the  mouth  of  the  rivers, 

they  made  me  to  dwell." 

Here  at  the  very  last  comes  the  explanation 
which  Gilgames  had  asked,  concerning  the  resi- 
dence of  Ut-napishtim.  And  the  place  which 
is  here  indicated  is  not  the  mouth  of  the  rivers 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  nor  the  wider  waters  of 
the  Persian  Gulf,  but  rather  the  far-distant 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  or  even  the  big 
Atlantic  outside  the  straits  of  Gibraltar;  for 
so  may  we  then  reconcile  this  eleventh  tablet 
with  the  story  of  the  journey  of  Gilgames  nar- 
rated in  the  ninth  tablet  of  the  epic.  --"-^ 

That  some  relationship  exists  between  this  / 
story  and  the  biblical  narrative  of  the  flood  • 
needs  no  argument  to  prove;  it  stands  open  be- 
fore the  eye  and  beyond  dispute.  Especially 
noteworthy  at  even  the  first  glance  are  the 
sending  out  of  the  birds,  the  divine  pleasure 
over  the  sweet  savor  of  the  sacrifice,  and  the 
divine  assurance  that  there  will  be  no  recur- 


208      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

rence  of  the  flood.  The  Genesis  narrative  is 
compounded  of  two  originally  separate  stories, 
the  one  reaching  its  present  form  at  the  hands 
of  a  Judean  compiler  in  the  ninth  century 
before  Christ,  and  the  other  at  the  hands  of  a 
priestly  writer  about  the  exilic  period.*  The 
Assyrian  deluge  story,  itself  also  a  compilation 
stretching  all  the  way  from  the  period  of  Ham- 
murabi to  the  age  of  Ashurbanipal,  shows  a 
resemblance  to  the  priestly  document  especially 
in  its  account  of  the  building  of  the  ark,  and 
in  its  mention  of  the  covenant;  but  to  the  Ju- 
dean or  prophetic  story  in  the  seven  days,  in 
the  sending  out  of  the  birds,  and  in  the  offering 
of  sacrifice. 

But  while  there  are  great  resemblances,  there 
are  also  great  differences  between  these  two 
accounts.  In  the  book  of  Genesis  the  flood  is 
sent  from  God  as  a  punishment  for  the  sins  of 
men,  and  it  ceases  when  the  divine  compassion 
is  aroused,  and  God  sets  the  bow  in  the  heaven 
as  a  pledge  that  he  will  never  again  destroy  the 
earth  by  water.    On  the  Assyrian  side  the  flood 

1  For  the  grounds  of  these  general  statements  about  the  Genesis  nar- 
rative see  Driver,  The  Book  of  Genesis,  London,  1904,  and  compare  also 
his  Introdtiction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  6th  edition,  London, 
1897.  An  excellent  popular  presentation  of  the  argument  is  to  be  found 
in  Alfred  Holborn,  The  Pentateuch  in  the  Light  of  To-Day,  being  a  simple 
introduction  to  the  Pentateuch  on  the  lines  of  Higher  Criticism.  Edin- 
burgh, 1902.  In  German,  not  translated  into  English,  is  a  very  admir- 
able popular  account,  Adalbert  Merx,  Die  Biicher  Moses  und  Joshua. 
Eine  Einleitung  fiir  Laien.  Tubingen,  1907.  For  the  purpose  of  a  com- 
parison of  the  Genesis  documents  with  the  Babylonian  story,  Kent's 
Stxident's  Old  Testament,  vol.  i.  New  York,  1904,  would  be  useful.  A 
most  valuable  book. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  209 

is  caused  by  the  capricious  anger  of  Bel,  and 
the  idea  of  the  punishment  for  sin  crops  out 
only  as  an  incidental  in  the  conversation  be- 
tween Ea  and  Bel  at  the  end  of  the  story.  The 
flood  ceases  because  the  other  gods  are  terrified 
and  Ishtar  intercedes  for  her  own  creation. 
But  there  are  even  greater  differences  than 
these,  for  on  the  one  side  is  a  crass  polytheism 
with  the  gods  quarreling,  cheating,  deceiving 
each  other,  cowering  like  dogs  in  a  kennel, 
fleeing  in  fear  into  the  higher  heaven,  and 
' 'gathering  like  flies  over  the  sacrificer."  On 
the  other  side  is  the  one  God,  alone  taking 
thought  for  the  sins  of  men,  a  moral  Being  free 
of  all  caprice  but  actuated  by  the  great  moral 
idea  of  love. 

What  now  is  the  relationship  of  these  two 
narratives?  It  seems  to  me  quite  clear  that'T' 
the  material  of  the  Hebrew  narrative  goes  back 
undoubtedly  to  this  Babylonian  original.  This 
ancient  story  becomes  in  the  hands  of  Hebrew 
prophet  and  priest  simply  the  vehicle  for  the 
conveyance  of  a  spiritual  truth  concerning  an 
ethical  and  moral  God.  In  the  Babylonian 
story  as  the  scribes  of  Ashurbanipal  edited  it 
there  was  no  motive  but  the  preservation  of  an 
interesting  tale  of  early  days,  but  the  Old  Testa- 
ment has  made  it  the  medium  for  the  carrying 
forward  of  spiritual  religion.  The  gulf  that  \ 
stretches  between  these  two  is  wide  and  deep. 

And  now  we  have  passed  in  review  the  broad 


210      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

features  of  the  religion  of  the  Babylonian  peo- 
ple. We  have  seen  their  great  pantheon  in 
outline,  the  great  triad  of  gods  that  stands  at 
the  head,  Anu,  Bel,  and  Ea,  and  the  duads  of 
Anshar  and  Kishar  and  Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu 
that  lie  behind  them.  We  have  passed  in  re- 
view the  gods  of  highest  repute  in  a  later  day, 
Sin  and  Shamash  and  Ishtar,  and  the  great 
city  gods,  Ashur  and  Marduk.  We  have  come 
to  know  something  of  the  lesser  deities  that 
run  in  a  diminishing  scale  downward  until  only 
demons,  good  and  evil,  are  before  us.  We  have 
passed  over  the  cosmologies  and  have  seen  how 
these  gifted  peoples  have  thought  of  the  wonder 
of  sky  and  earth  and  men  and  animals,  and 
from  these  we  have  gone  on  to  matters  of  less 
moving  interest,  to  books  of  magic  and  incanta- 
tions, and  then  upward  again  have  passed  by 
splendid  hjmins  into  solemn  psalms  of  peni- 
tence and  of  prayer.  Thence  have  we  made 
the  great  circuit  round  to  the  myths,  glowing 
sometimes  with  beauty  and  color,  and  then  to 
the  great  epics,  at  once  the  flower  of  Assyrian 
poesy  and  the  highest  outreach  of  the  Baby- 
lonian religion  in  its  effort  to  lift  men  to  an 
interest  in  things  divine.  We  have  come  all 
the  way  from  a  primitive  animism  to  a  highly 
organized  poljrtheism  surrounded  by  great  gar- 
dens of  theological  speculation  ending  in  a 
hope  for  existence,  a  dark,  dull  existence,  in- 
deed, and  not  a  vivid  life  after  death,  but  still 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  211 

a  hope  better  than  the  dread  of  extinction. 
And  now  we  must  ask  whether  there  is  any 
great  organizing  idea  which  will  bring  all  this 
religion  and  all  this  theology  and  all  this  specu- 
lation into  one  great  comprehensive  system. 
The  answer  to  that  question  can  only  be 
reached  after  a  survey  of  a  series  of  modern 
speculations  begun  in  ingenious  suggestions, 
and  carried  on  with  a  power  of  combination 
and  a  wealth  of  learning  that  are  alike  worthy 
of  respect  and  deserving  of  examination. 

The  theory  that  the  whole  religion  of  Baby- 
lonia and  Assyria,  nay,  practically  the  whole 
of  the  serious  thinking  and  writing  of  both 
realms,  rests  down  upon  a  Weltanschauung,  a 
great  theory  of  the  universe,  owes  its  origin  and 
exposition  at  least  in  its  chief  form  to  Professor 
Hugo  Winckler,  of  the  University  of  Berlin, 
who  in  a  series  of  volumes  and  in  numerous 
pamphlets^  has  heaped  suggestion  upon  sug- 
gestion and  then  organized  them  all  into  one 

1  Professor  Winckler's  contributions  to  exposition  of  this  theorj'  are 
so  numerous  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  do  more  than  indicate  a  few 
of  them.  I  hope  that  I  have  here  cited  a  sufficient  number  to  give  to 
any  searcher  a  fair  idea  of  the  whole  theory: 

Hugo  Winckler,  Geschichtc  Israels  in  Einzcldarstelhingen .  Thcil  ii.  Die 
I.egcnde.  Leipzig,  1900. — Die  Weltanschauung  des  Alien  Orients, 
in  Ex  oriente  lux  I,  1. — Himmels-  und  WeltenbUd  dcr  Babylotiier 
als  Grundlage  der  Weltanschauung  und  Mythologie  aller  Volker,  in 
Der  Alte  Orient,  3.  Leipzig,  1902. — Die  KeUinschrijten  und  das  Alte 
Testament,  3te  Auf.,  Theil  i. — Die  babylonische  Geirteskidtur  in  ihren 
Beziehungen  ziir  Kulturentwickcl-ung  der  Mcnschheit  (Wissenschnft 
u.  Bildung,  Heft  13).  Leipzig,  1907. — Altorirvtalische  Geschichtsauf- 
fassung.  Ex  oriente  lux  IT.  Leipzig,  1906.  "Astronomisch- 
mythologisches,"  in  Altorientalische  Forschungen  (1901-05).  Ara- 
bisch-Semitisch-Orientalisch  (1901). 


212      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

grand  whole.  The  views  of  Winckler  have  been 
accepted  by  Dr.  Alfred  Jeremias,  pastor  of  the 
great  Luther-Church  in  Leipzig,  and  a  Privat- 
Dozent  in  the  University  of  Leipzig.  They 
have  also  found  acceptance,  at  least  in  some  of 
the  contentions,  by  Professor  Heinrich  Zim- 
mern,  of  the  University  of  Leipzig,  and  one 
of  the  greatest  of  modern  Assyriologists.  The 
theory  owes  very  much  of  its  growing  importance 
to  Jeremias,  whose  important  contributions  to 
the  detailed  study  of  the  Babylonian  religion 
have  won  for  him  universal  respect,  while  his 
great  powers  of  exposition  have  made  him  a 
valuable  helper  in  the  work  of  popularizing  the 
new  doctrine.^ 

The  doctrine  is  complicated,  and  even  those 
who  accept  it  in  the  main  decline  it  in  par- 
ticular, and  its  exposition  here  is  difficult.  I 
can  do  no  more  than  to  sketch  it  in  outline  in 
the  form  which  it  takes  in  the  writings  especially 
of  Winckler  and  Jeremias. 

According,  then,  to  these  scholars  the  Baby- 
lonians conceived  of  the  cosmos  as  divided 
primarily  into  a  heavenly  and  an  earthly 
world,  each  of  which  is  further  subdivided  into 
three  parts.     The  heavenly  world  consists  of 


1  See  especially  Jeremias,  Das  Alte  Testament  im  Lichte  des  alten  Orients, 
2te  Auf.,  Leipzig,  1906,  an  able  and  extremely  useful  book  to  which  I 
have  already  made  frequent  reference.  See  further  Jeremias,  Bahy- 
lonisches  im  Neuen  Testament.  Leipzig,  1905.  Im  Kampfe  um,  den 
Alten  Orient.  1907.  Das  Alter  der  babylonischen  Astronomie.  Leipzig, 
1908. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  213 

(a)  the  northern  heaven,  (b)  the  zodiac,  and 
(c)  the  heavenly  ocean ;  while  the  earthly  world 
consists  of  (a)  the  heaven,  that  is,  the  air  above 
the  earth,  (b)  the  earth  itself,  and  (c)  the 
waters  beneath  the  earth.  By  the  side  of  this 
there  exists  also  a  simpler  division  of  three  into 
the  heaven,  the  earth,  and  the  waters  beneath 
the  earth.  The  visible  heaven  consists  of  a 
solid  firmament  with  two  doors  for  the  en- 
trance and  exit  of  the  sun.  Above  this  is  the 
great  heaven,  the  abode  of  the  gods.  The 
earth  is  a  round  plane,  beneath  it  the  waters 
and  the  dark  abode  of  the  dead. 

These  great  subdivisions  are  ruled  by  gods, 
as  I  have  already  tried  to  show  in  the  second 
lecture — Anu  in  the  heaven  above,  Bel  in  the 
earth  and  air,  and  Ea  in  the  waters  beneath. 
According  to  Winckler,  Anu  presides  over  the 
upper  heaven,  and  over  the  north  pole  of  earth, 
while  Bel  is  lord  of  the  zodiac  and  of  the  earth, 
and  Ea  rules  over  the  southern  heaven,  the 
heavenly  ocean,  and  the  waters  of  earth  and 
the  waters  beneath. 

More  important  than  all  these  details  is  the 
zodiac,  the  twelve  heavenly  figures  which  span 
the  heavens,  and  through  which  the  moon 
passes  every  month,  the  sun  once  a  year,  and 
the  five  great  planets  that  are  visible  to  the 
naked  eye  have  their  course.  These  moving 
stars  serve  as  the  interpreters  of  the  divine 
will,  while  the  fixed  stars,  so  says  Jeremias,  are 


214      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

related  thereto  as  the  commentary  written  on 
the  margin  of  the  book  of  revelation/  The 
rulers  of  the  zodiac  are  Sin,  Shamash,  and  Ish- 
tar,  and  according  to  the  law  of  correspondence 
the  divine  power  manifested  in  them  is  identical 
with  the  power  of  Anu,  Bel,  and  Ea.  The  zodiac 
represents  the  world-cycle  in  the  year,  and  also 
in  the  world-year.  Therefore  each  one  of  these 
gods  may  represent  the  total  divine  power, 
which  reveals  itself  in  the  cycle.  By  the  side 
of  these  three.  Sin,  Shamash,  and  Ishtar,  which 
represent  respectively  the  Moon,  the  Sun,  and 
Venus,  there  are  ranged  Marduk,  which  is 
Jupiter;  Nabu,  Mercury,  Ninib,  Mars;  and 
Nergal,  Saturn — these  being  the  planets  known 
to  the  ancients. 

Now,  according  to  Winckler  and  his  school, 
upon  these  foundations  the  ancient  priesthood 
of  Babylonia  built  a  closely  knit  and  carefully 
thought-out  world-system  of  an  astral  char- 
acter, and  this  world-system  forms  the  kernel 
of  the  ancient  Oriental  conception  of  the 
universe.  This  conception  of  the  universe  has 
a  double-sided  principle  of  far-reaching  con- 
sequence. First,  the  heavenly  world  with  its 
three  divisions  corresponds  exactly  to  the 
earthly  world  with  its  three  divisions.  Herein 
lies  the  great  fundamental  leading  idea  of  the 


1  "Der  Tierkreis  ist  das  Buch  der  Offenbarung  Gottes,  die  Erschein- 
ungen  des  Fixsternhimmels  sind  gewissermassen  der  an  den  Rand 
geschriebene  Koinmentar." — Jcremias,  op.  cit.,  p.  45. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  215 

entire  system.  Everything  on  earth  corre- 
sponds to  its  counterpart  in  heaven.  In  heaven 
every  god  has  a  distinct  district,  a  rifievog,  a 
templum,  beneath  his  sway,  and  in  Uke  manner 
he  has  a  corresponding  district  on  earth  in 
which  is  his  temple.  Over  this  earthly  district 
there  is  a  king,  appointed  by  the  god,  and  in 
him  the  god  is  incarnated.  Herein,  according 
to  Winckler,  is  the  explanation  of  the  divisions 
of  territory  found  in  the  ancient  Orient,  and 
the  assignment  to  each  of  a  separate  Baal,  or 
god. 

But  as  the  lands  correspond  to  heavenly  en- 
tities, so  also  do  the  cities,  each  of  them  repre- 
senting a  cosmic  point,  and  each  one  of  them 
having  its  counterpart  in  heaven;  there  above 
is  the  god  of  each  city,  who  below  on  earth  is 
represented  by  his  image  in  the  temple,  and 
there  above  does  he  order  and  direct  all  that 
happens  below.  From  above  also  comes  the 
whole  system  of  numeration.  From  the  sidereal 
and  the  astral-mythological  changes  there  ac- 
crue a  large  number  of  sacred  or  t5rpical  figures. 
Indeed,  according  to  Jeremias,  ''all  mmcibers 
are  holy,"*  and  if  here  and  there  certain  num- 
bers stand  out  above  others,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
plained as  the  influence  of  some  religious 
calendar  system.  The  fundamental  numbers 
are  five  and  seven,  which  are  the  numbers  of 
the  interpreters  of  the  divine  will  in  the  heavens. 

'  "Alle  Zahlen  sind  heilig." — Jeremias,  op.  cit.,  p.  56. 


216      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

From  these  the  sexagesimal  system  is  derived, 
for  5  +  7=12;  5x12=60. 

So,  in  everything,  there  exists,  according  to 
this  theory,  a  harmony  between  heaven  and 
earth.  Heaven  is,  in  large  and  in  small,  a 
mirror  of  earth.  The  macrocosm  and  the 
microcosm  display  the  same  peculiarities;  and 
the  same  powers,  each  working  in  its  own 
sphere,  bring  forth  the  same  cosmical  harmony. 
The  other,  or  second  side  of  the  organizing 
principle,  is  found  in  the  great  time  divisions. 
The  course  of  the  great  stars  gives  the  time 
divisions  of  the  calendar — day,  year,  world- 
year,  or  world-era  or  world-period.  This  world- 
era  has  its  boundaries  in  the  position  of  the 
^  equinoctial  point  in  the  zodiac.  A  new  world- 
era  begins  whenever  the  sun  on  the  spring 
equinox  enters  a  new  sign  in  the  zodiac.  Ac- 
cording to  the  theory  the  position  of  the  sun 
in  the  vernal  equinox  moves  eastward  from 
year  to  year.  In  seventy-two  years  it  moves 
one  day,  and  in  about  2,200  years  one  month. 
The  period  of  2,200  years  forms,  therefore,  a 
world-period.  At  the  present  day  the  sun  at 
the  vernal  equinox  is  in  the  sign  of  the  Fish. 
In  the  age  before  this  it  was  in  the  sign  of  the 
Ram.  This  era  began  in  the  eighth  century 
before  Christ,  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
King  Nabonassar  (747  B.C.),  who  introduced  a 
new  calendar.  Before  that  period  was  the  era 
of  the  Bull.    Each  of  these  world-eras  is  ruled 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  217 

by  some  deity;  thus,  in  the  era  of  the  Twins 
(6000-4000  B.C.)  ruled  Sin,  in  the  era  of  the 
Bull  (3000-1000  B.C.)  Marduk  was  the  ruler 
of  the  world.  From  the  aeon  of  Sin  come  the 
hymns  of  Sin,  and  from  the  Bull  era  come  the 
hymns  addressed  to  Marduk,  and  in  this  same 
era  occurred  the  great  political  change  by 
which  Babylon  became  the  center  of  the  world 
and  Marduk  the  chief  of  all  the  gods.  -->. 

And  now  we  are  come  to  the  crux  of  the  i 
whole  matter,  to  the  one  point  toward  which 
this  whole  theory  tends,  to  that  issue  which  if 
it  be  really  true  requires  all  our  views  of  the 
entire  past  history  and  religion  and  literature 
of  antiquity  to  be  changed.  Let  me  take 
unusual  precautions  to  state  it  with  exactness 
and  with  fairness  to  Professor  Winckler,  to 
Dr.  Jeremias,  and  to  all  who  in  part  or  whole 
do  hold  with  them. 

Assuming  all  that  I  have  just  been  stating 
concerning  earth  and  heaven  to  be  true — that 
the  heavens  are  a  mirror  of  earth ;  that  the  gods 
reveal  their  will  and  purpose  in  the  heavens, 
and  all  the  other  principles  and  ideas  therewith 
connected  which  I  have  just  passed  in  review — 
then  it  follows  that  the  heavens  have  become  a 
great  book  of  reference  in  which  may  be  dis- 
cerned not  only  all  that  may  hereafter  come  to 
pass,  but  also  all  that  has  heretofore  happened 
among  men.  Everything  which  has  happened 
is  only  an  earthly  copy  of  a  heavenly  original. 


218      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

1 — 

knd  there  it  is  still  writ  above,  and  still  there 
to  be  read.  All  this  was  important  enough  for 
practical  everyday  life  in  ancient  times,  but  for 
us  who  are  trying  to  learn  what  actually  has 
happened  among  men  in  the  far-distant  past 
it  is  of  enormous  moment.  For,  according  to 
Winckler,  all  the  myths  and  all  the  legends  of 
the  ancient  world  are  hereby  to  be  interpreted. 
Nothing  even  in  history,  properly  so  called,  is 
to  be  understood  otherwise.  "An  Oriental  his- 
tory without  consideration  of  the  world-era  is 
unthinkable.  The  stars  rule  the  changes  of  the 
times"  (Jeremias).*  According  to  this  view 
astrology  is  the  last  word  of  science  in  an- 
tiquity. There  is  no  view  of  myth  or  legend 
or  history  to  be  taken  without  it.  But  it 
sweeps  out  far  beyond  Babylonia  and  Assyria. 
All  peoples  of  antiquity  come  within  its  scope. 
Is  there  a  mystery  anywhere,  this  ancient 
Oriental  conception  of  the  universe  will  ex- 
plain it.  i^aturally  enough,  Israel  is  swept 
within  its  province.  Saul  is  the  Moon,  and 
David  is  Marduk,  and  Solomon  is  Nabu.  The 
entire  literature  of  Israel,  all  her  history,  all 
her  theology,  all  her  thinking  are,  so  this  theory 
would  have  it,  but  the  outworking  of  the  Baby- 
lonian idea.  Everything  in  Israel  is  Babylon, 
and   Babylon  is  everything.     It  is  indeed  a 


1  "Eine  orientalische  Geschichtsdarstellung  ohne  Rechnung  mit 
Weltzeitaltern  ist  nicht  denkbar.  Die  Gestirne  regieren  den  Wechsel 
der  Zeiten." — Jeremiar,,  op.  cit.,  p.  69. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  219 

momentous  change  in  all  our  thinking  which 
is  here  proposed.  Dr.  Jeremias  has  no  hesita- 
tion in  speaking  of  it  as  an  ' 'epoch-making 
discovery,  of  far-reaching  consequence  for  the 
understanding  of  the  Old  Testament  manner  of 
speech." 

And  now  we  must  come  to  the  testing  of 
these  things.  Are  they  true  in  whole  or  in 
part?  If  they  are  true  at  all,  in  how  far  may 
they  be  accepted  as  of  consequence  in  making 
up  our  view  of  the  Old  Testament  literature 
and  religion? 

Let  us,  then,  begin  by  freely  and  gladly  ad- 
mitting the  immense  debt  of  Old  Testament 
Uterature  to  the  great  Babylonian  world.  There 
is  no  secret  about  this,  it  Ues  open  to  the  eye 
of  even  the  casual  reader,  and  the  Old  Testa- 
ment writers  themselves  freely  and  openly 
admitted  it.  The  first  eleven  chapters  of  Gene- 
sis in  their  present  form,  as  also  in  the  original 
documents  into  which  modern  critical  research 
has  traced  their  origin,  bear  eloquent  witness  to 
Babylonia  as  the  old  home  of  the  Hebrew  peo- 
ple and  of  their  collection  of  sacred  stories. 
But  besides  this  there  are  scattered  in  many 
other  places  evidences  clear  and  indisputable 
of  the  influence  of  Babylonian  literature  and 
thinking  upon  the  Hebrews.  It  were  idle  to 
enumerate  all  these,  or  even  to  attempt  to  do 
so  in  the  limited  space  of  this  one  lecture.  The 
few  that  I  do  mention  will  suggest  others  to 


220      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

any  thoughtful  mind  famiUar  with  the  splendid 
words  of  the  prophets,  poets,  lawgivers,  and 
wise  men  of  Israel. 

Heaven  and  earth  are  familiar  enough  in  the 
Old  Testament,  but  we  catch  also  an  echo  of 
the  threefold  division  in  the  command  to  make 
''no  graven  image,  nor  any  likeness  of  any 
thing  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the 
earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the 
earth. "^  In  the  heaven  of  heavens  is  God's 
throne;  while  beneath  the  waters  under  the 
earth  is  the  dark  abode  of  the  dead,  the  Abad- 
don or  Hades.  But  in  all  these  allusions  to 
heavens  and  earth  I  find  no  sign  or  sound  of 
any  Babylonian  theory  of  the  universe.  The 
stars  indeed  find  frequent  mention,  but  only  as 
the  works  of  Jahweh.  ''To  whom  then,"  says 
the  great  exilic  prophet,  "To  whom  then  will 
ye  liken  me,  that  I  should  be  equal  to  him? 
saith  the  Holy  One.  Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high, 
and  see  who  hath  created  these,  that  bringeth 
out  their  host  by  number;  he  calleth  them  all 
by  name;  by  the  greatness  of  his  might,  and 
for  that  he  is  strong  in  power,  not  one  is  lack- 
ing."^ The  star-worship  did  indeed  penetrate 
into  Israel  through  the  influence  of  the  Canaan- 
ites,  whose  cities  in  their  very  names  bear 
witness  to  this  cult — Beth-shemesh,  the  house 
of  the  sun;  Ir-shemesh,  the  city  of  the  sun — 


1  Exod.  20.  4. 

2  Isa.  40.  25,  26. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  221 

but  all  this  was  everywhere  and  always  de- 
nounced by  the  prophets  as  utterly  inconsistent 
with  worship  of  Jahweh.  Hear  the  ringing 
words  of  Deuteronomy:  '^Take  ye  therefore  good 
heed  unto  yourselves,  .  .  .  lest  thou  lift  up 
thine  eyes  unto  heaven,  and  when  thou  seest 
the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars,  even  all 
the  host  of  heaven,  thou  be  drawn  away  and 
worship  them,  and  serve  them."^  Nay,  these 
prophetic  spirits  hate  the  whole  star  cult  with 
a  burning  hate,  and  will  put  to  death  any  who 
are  enticed  by  it.^  They  sneer  at  the  poor 
dupes  who  have  taken  any  thought  of  its  im- 
portance. ''Let  now  the  astrologers  [literally, 
the  dividers  of  the  heavens],  the  star-gazers, 
the  monthly  prognosticators,  stand  up,  and 
save  thee  from  the  things  that  shall  come  upon 
thee."^  From  the  observation  of  the  heavens 
this  prophet  knows  well  enough  that  naught 
may  be  learned  of  past  or  of  future.  All  that 
rests  in  Jahweh's  hand,  and  it  will  not  be  de- 
clared through  the  stars,  which  are  merely  his 
creatures.  According  to  the  Winckler  theory 
the  stars  are  the  very  center  of  the  whole 
theory,  and  from  these  few  passages  it  must 
be  plain  that  in  all  these  things  Israel  kept  her 
own  course,  diverging  widely  from  the  entire 
astrological  system  which  he  has  wrought  out. 

1  Deut.  4.  15,  19. 

2  Deut.  17.  2ff. 

3  Isa.  47.  13. 


222      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

There  is  no  need  to  deny  that  the  poets  of 
Israel  used  Babylonian  mythical  and  legendary 
material  as  a  means  of  poetical  adornment, 
somewhat  as  Milton  used  the  richer  mythical 
materials  of  Greece  and  Rome;  the  only  point 
that  I  wish  strongly  to  emphasize  is  that 
Israel's  religious  literature  affords  absolutely  no 
proof  of  the  existence  in  Israel's  thinking  of 
any  such  theory  of  the  universe  as  Winckler 
has  imagined. 

But  I  must  take  one  step  further  on  this 
delicate  and  difficult  ground,  and  venture  to 
say  that  I  am  quite  unable  to  accept  Winckler's 
theory  that  the  Babylonians  or  the  Assyrians 
ever  had  in  their  own  speculations  any  such 
conception  of  the  universe  as  he  has  so  la- 
boriously wrought  out.  This  theory  has  every- 
thing to  commend  it  in  the  extraordinary  in- 
genuity with  which  it  is  conceived  and  the 
splendid  learning  with  which  it  is  urged,  but  it 
lacks  altogether  the  one  greatest  of  all  needs, 
and  that  is  evidence.  There  is,  indeed,  evi- 
dence enough  for  many  of  the  single  features 
which  Winckler  has  combined,  but  with  all 
good  will  and  temper  and  with  long  searching 
in  Winckler's  writings  and  in  the  original  texts 
I  cannot  find  the  evidence  for  the  conception  of 
the  universe  which,  according  to  the  theory, 
lies  at  the  base  of  all  Babylonian  thinking  and 
writing.  It  is,  I  think,  not  unfair  to  say  that 
the  theory  continually  plays  fast  and  loose  with 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  223 

the  religious  facts  as  the  actual  texts  reveal 
them,  and  applies  them  now  in  one  way  and 
now  in  another.  It  is  likewise  undeniable  that 
many  of  the  astrological  materials  are  quite 
otherwise  explained  by  Professor  Jensen  and 
in  still  other  ways  by  Professor  Hommel,  each 
of  whom  has  astrological  theories  of  his  own. 

The  strangest  thing  about  the  great  system 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  confidence  with  which 
it  is  urged.  The  chief  author  and  all  who  have 
cooperated  with  him  or  expounded  the  theory 
to  wider  circles  seem  not  to  realize  that  this 
effort  to  unlock  all  doors  with  one  key,  to  ex- 
plain all  mysteries  with  one  theory,  has  been 
repeatedly  tried  before  and  has  always  gone 
down  to  failure.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  of 
these  failures  is  the  magnificent  effort  of 
Charles  Franyois  Dupuis.  It  all  began  with  an 
investigation  of  the  origin  of  the  Greek  months. 
From  that  he  passed  to  a  study  of  the  constel- 
lations, and  thence  to  an  attempt  to  locate  the 
origin  of  the  zodiac.  To  him  it  seemed  only 
necessary  to  discover  the  land  and  the  period 
^'in  which  the  constellation  of  Capricorn  must 
have  arisen  with  the  sun  on  the  day  of  the 
summer  solstice  and  the  vernal  equinox  must 
have  occurred  under  Libra J^  After  prolonged 
investigation,  carried  out  with  prodigious  learn- 
ing and  wonderful  ingenuity,  he  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  Upper  Egypt  was  the  land  and 
that  a  period  of  between  fifteen  and  sixteen 


224      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRLA 

thousand  years  before  the  present  time  was 
the  time  when  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  originated. 
His  books  on  these  subjects/  with  their  beau- 
tiful plates,  are  a  melancholy  example  of 
misdirected  labor,  and  ought  to  serve  to  make 
others  less  confident  who  follow  in  somewhat 
similar  lines.  For  ChampoUion  showed  readily 
enough  that  the  Egyptian  use  of  the  zodiac 
dates  only  to  the  Greco-Roman  period,  and  the 
whole  theory  crumbled  at  once  to  pieces.  But 
before  this  had  happened  Dupuis  had  gone  on 
to  use  this  principle,  which  he  believed  he  had 
discovered,  to  erect  a  tremendous  system  by 
which  he  sought  to  explain  the  origin  of  all  re- 
ligions.^ The  learning  of  the  book  is  fairly 
staggering.  It  excited  at  the  time  great  and 
bitter  controversy,  and  then,  without  any  par- 
ticular disproof,  its  theories  melted  quietly 
away  like  the  morning  mists  and  disappeared. 
But  men  are  slow  to  learn  by  such  examples, 

1  Dupuis,  Mimoire  sur  I'Origine  des  Constellations  et  sur  I' Explication 
de  la  Fable  par  VAstronomie.  Quarto.  Paris,  1781.  Also  Mimoire 
Explica.tif  du  Zodiaque  Chronologique  et  Mythologique,  Ouvrage  contenant 
le  Tableau  comparatif  des  Maisons  de  la  Lune  chez  les  diff^rens  Peuples 
de  I'Orient,  et  celui  des  plus  anciennes  observations  qui  s'y  lient,  d'apr^s 
les  Egyptiens,  les  Chinois,  les  Perses,  les  Arabes,  les  Chald^ens  et  les 
Calendriers  grecs.  Quarto.  Paris,  1806.  Containing  a  beautiful  copper- 
plate of  the  zodiac,  showing  its  connections  with  many  different  peoples. 
I^et  not  the  reader  fail  to  observe  in  the  title  of  this  second  work  how 
very  wide  was  the  sweep  of  Dupuis's  claim  to  explain  the  problems  of 
ancient  astronomy  and  astrology.  It  affords  a  most  curious  parallel 
to  certain  recent  speculations. 

2  Dupuis,  Origine  de  tous  les  Cultes,  ou  Religion  Universelle.  Paris, 
1794.  Nouvelle  edition,  10  vols.,  1835-1836.  A  curious  fragment  of  it 
was  translated  into  English  under  the  title  Christianity  a  Form  of  the 
Great  Solar  Myth,  from  the  French  of  Dupuis.    London,  n.  d. 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  225 

and  the  failure  of  Dupuis  did  not  prevent  Pro- 
fessor Friedrich  Max  Miiller  and  George  Wil- 
liam Cox^  from  bringing  out  a  new  explication 
of  the  so-called  Solar  Myth  by  which  they  hoped 
to  explain  many  mythological  difficulties  and 
not  a  few  of  their  origins.  Of  all  this  theory  it 
is  now  possible  for  Andrew  Lang  to  say: 
'Twenty  years  ago  the  philological  theory  of 
the  Solar  Myth  was  preached  as  'scientific'  in 
the  books,  primers,  and  lectures  of  popular 
science.    To-day  its  place  knows  it  no  more."^ 

I  have  discussed  the  Babylonian  religion  in 
its    broad    outlines,    and    as    one    point    after 


1  George  William  Cox,  The  Mythology  of  Aryan  Nations.  London, 
1874. 

2  Andrew  Lang,  Homer  and  His  Age,  p.  ix.  London,  1906.  This  Solar 
Myth  theory  in  its  day  attempted  to  explain  almost  everything  in  a 
number  of  realms.  It  drew  forth  a  most  amusing  answer,  extremely 
clever  in  its  use  of  the  terminology  of  the  theory,  by  R.  F.  Littledale. 
This  was  published  anonymously  (in  Kottabos,  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
1870,  pp.  145ff.  It  has  been  reprinted  in  R.  Y.  Tyrrell  and  E.  Sullivan, 
Echoes  from  Kottabos,  London,  1906,  pp.  279.  It  was  even  translated  into 
German,  Wer  ivar  Max  Miiller.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  vergleichenden  Mythol- 
ogie,  Aus  dem  Englischen  von  K.  Fr.  Leipzig,  n.  d.).  The  eminent  Hel- 
lenist, Professor  B.  L.  Gildersleeve,  of  Baltimore  (American  Journal  of 
Philology,  1906,  vol.  xxvii,  p.  359;  compare  also  ibid.,  1908,  vol.  xxix, 
p.  117),  says  of  it:  "Twenty-five  years  ago  there  would  have  been  some 
point  in  the  ridicule  of  the  sun-mj'th.  Much  true  glory  was  gained  by 
an  article  in  the  Kottabos,  which  proved  on  Max  Miiller's  principles  that 
Max  Miiller  liimself  was  a  solar  myth;  and  there  would  have  been  a 
certain  relish  in  the  application  of  the  method  to  Eumaios,  the  divine 
swineherd  with  his  twelve  months  of  sties  and  his  three  hundred  and 
sixty  boars  of  days,  but  there  is  nothing  more  deplorable  than  the  elabo- 
rate interpretation  of  deceased  jests;  and  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to 
resuscitate  Paley's  interpretation  of  the  'Odyssej''  in  order  to  vitalize  a 
joke."  Perhaps  one  miglit  dare  to  say  that  these  new  expositions  of  a 
supposed  Babylonian  theory  of  the  universe  are  no  more  secure  than 
the  theories  of  Dupuis,  Max  Miiller,  and  Cox,  and  that  "like  a  wave 
shall  they  pass  and  be  passed." 


226      RELIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

another  passed  in  review  I  have  tried  carefully 
and  accurately  to  show  wherein  the  Hebrew 
people  had  borrowed  materials  which  were  after- 
ward used  in  their  noble  literature.  I  have  not 
wittingly  passed  over  any  single  borrowing  of 
moment,  which  the  researches  of  recent  years 
have  made  known  to  us.  When  all  these  are 
added  up  and  placed  together  they  are  small 
in  number  and  insignificant  in  size  when  com- 
pared with  all  the  length  and  breadth  and 
height  of  Israel's  literature.  Furthermore, 
whatever  was  borrowed  was  stamped  with 
Israel's  genius.  The  creation  story,  the  flood 
story,  we  have  seen  how  these  leaned  upon  Baby- 
lonia for  the  mere  stuff  out  of  which  a  wholly 
new  fabric  was  woven.  The  word  ' 'sabbath"  is 
Babylonian  indeed,  but  the  great  social  and 
religious  institution  which  it  represents  in  Israel 
is  not  Babylonian,  but  distinctively  Hebrew. 
The  divine  name  Jahweh  appears  among  other 
peoples,  and  passes  in  a  long  cycle  over  into 
Babylonia,  perhaps  from  some  west  Canaanite 
stock.  But  the  spiritual  God  who  bears  the 
name  in  Israel  is  no  Babylonian  or  Kenite  deity. 
The  Babylonians  during  all  their  history,  during 
all  their  speculations,  never  conceived  a  God 
like  unto  him.  He  belongs  to  the  Hebrews,  and 
no  other  people  can  take  away  from  Israel  this 
glory,  for  the  glory  of  Israel  is  Jahweh. 

The  gods  of  Babylonia  are  connected,  in  some 
way   that   we   can   no   longer  determine,  with 


THE  MYTHS  AND  EPICS  227 

primitive  animism  or  they  are  merely  local 
deities;  the  God  of  Israel  is  a  God  revealed  in 
history.  He  brought  Israel  out  of  Egypt.  He 
is  continually  made  known  to  his  people 
through  the  prophets  as  a  God  revealed  in 
history. 

The  religion  of  Israel  is  not  developed  out  of 
Babylonian  polytheism. '  Babylonian  polythe- 
ism existed  as  polytheism  in  the  earliest  periods 
of  which  we  have  even  the  semblance  of  knowl- 
edge, and  it  endured  as  polytheism  unto  the 
end.  The  religion  of  Israel,  on  the  other  hand, 
however  humble  some  of  its  material  origins 
may  be,  moved  steadily  upward  and  onward  till 
the  great  monotheistic  idea  found  universal  ac- 
ceptance in  Israel.  The  religions  of  Moab  and 
Edom,  of  Philistia  and  Phoenicia,  were  sub- 
ject to  the  same  play  of  influences  from  Baby- 
lonia and  from  Egypt,  but  naught  came  of  it 
all — no  larger  faith  developed  out  of  them.  In 
Israel  alone  ethical  monotheism  arose,  spread 
its  wings,  and  took  its  flight  over  all  the  world. 
The  religion  borrowed  indeed  material  things.  I 
have  said  it  again  and  again.  But,  as  another 
has  said,  the  elephant  which  produced  the  ivory 
dare  not  boast  itself  as  the  creator  of  the  Athene 
which  the  skill  of  Phidias  had  wrought  out  of 
the  dead  matter.  Whatever  Israel  took  it 
transformed. 

What  shall  I  say  at  last  of  all  this,  but  sol- 
emnly and  earnestly  to  avow  the  conviction 


228      REBIGION  OF  BABYLONIA  AND  ASSYRIA 

that  the  origin  of  Israel's  religion,  the  motive 
power  of  its  mighty  and  resistless  progress,  is 
to  be  sought  in  a  personal  revelation  of  God  in 
history,  and  that  this  personal  revelation  looks 
forward  to  the  kingdom  that  was  to  be,  when 
Judaism  had  passed  over  her  carefully  guarded 
body  of  truth  to  the  Christianity  which  was 
to  be  born  within  her  portals.  The  explanation 
of  the  religion  of  Israel  is  not  to  be  sought  in  the 
religion  of  Babylonia  which  lies  behind,  out- 
worn and  useless,  but  in  the  living  Christianity 
which  stands  before  it. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


A  (Malkatu),  79 

Abel,  187 

Abydenus,  65 

Adad,  63,  72,  85 

Adam,  190 

Adapa,  107,  186,  188,  189,  191 

Ae  (Ea),  81 

Agum,  106 

Akhijami,  94 

Akhkhazu,  147 

Akurgal,  54 

Amarna,  Tefl-el,  24,  136 

Amel-Marduk,  72 

Andrae,  61 

Animism,  75 

Aniran,  28 

An-makh,  79 

Anshar,  108,  114,  116,  117,  126, 

163 
Antiphonal  singing,  179,  180 
Antum,  83 
Ann,   63,   79,   82,   83,   87,    111, 

118,  120,  126,  149,  151,  157, 

164,  168,  175,  178,  189,  191, 

199,  203,  213 
Anunit,  79 
Anunnaki,  202,  203 
Apsu,  104,  107,  115 
Aqitu,  201 
Arabia,  34,  50,  69 
Arakhtu,  canal,  65 
Aramaic  people  in  Babylonia,  60 
Ardat  lili,  76,  77,  147 
Ardumazanus,  65 
Aruru,  195 
Asari   1 30 
Ashur,  59,  64,  67,  69,  70,  87,  154, 

157 
Ashurbanipal,    part    of    library 

found,  20;  remainder,  22,  154 
Ashurbelkala,  58 
Ashurnazirpal  III,  60,  106 
Ashurrishishi,  58 
Asiatic  Society,  Royal,  40 
Asshur,  city,  excavated,  23,  59 
Assyrian,  translated,  38,  39 


Assyriology,  a  university  disci- 
pline, 40 
Astral  theory,  213ff 
Asushunamir,  193 
Aton,  hymn  to,  166 
Atrakhasis,  107,  187,  206 
Aurmazda,  33 

Babel  and  Bible  literature,  92 

Babylon,  2,  8,  9,  34,  54,  64 

Bactria,  34 

Balawat,  22 

Bans,  168 

Bau,  79,  162 

Behistun,  35,  36,  37 

Bel,  63,  64,  79,  87,  126,  149,  168, 
175,  200,  201,  205,  206,  207, 
213 

Belit,  63,  69,  79,  83,  87,  157 

Belit-ilani,  63 

Benjamin  of  Tudela,  5,  6 

Berosus,  65,  81,  138,  139,  206 

Bethel,  181 

Bezold,  Carl,  46,  92,  187 

Boissier,  A.,  46 

Bonomi,  42 

Booth,  A.  J.,  5 

Borsippa,  85 

Botta,  Paul  Emil,  vice-consul  at 
Mosul,  9;  explores  Kuyunjik, 
11;  Khorsabad,  12,  13;  pub- 
lishes results,  14;  discovery 
compared,  20,  38 

Breasted,  James  Henry,  166 

Bronze  image  for  incantation, 
151 

Brunnow,  R.,  170 

Budde,  Karl,  92 

Budge,  E.  A.  W.,  5,  24,  36,  187 

Bull,  era  of,  216;  story  of,  186 

Burning.  See  Maqlu  and  Shurpu 

Burnouf,  Eugene,  34 

Caesura,  in  Babylonian  poetry, 

108 
Calah,  100 


229 


230 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


Caliban,  138 
Cambyses,  31 
Cappadocia,  34 
Capricorn,  223 
Champollion,  224 
Chardin,  John,  25 
Charms,  various,  153 
Choser,  10 
Christianity,  2 
City  government,  53 
Clay,  Albert  T.,  23,  54,  61,  80,  93 
Cox,  George  William,  225 
Craig,  James  A.,  45 
Creation  stories  widespread,  100; 
original  Babylonian  form,  105 
Cush,  67 

Cutha,  84,  86,  193 
Cyrus,  31,  73 

Dagan,  79 

Daily  Telegraph,  102 

Damascius,  81 

Damascus,  62 

Dam-gal-nun-na,  79 

Damu,  79 

Darius,  31,  33,  35,  36 

David,  218 

Decipherment,  tested,  39,  40 

Delitzsch,  Friedrich,  23,  46,  90, 
92,  103,  174 

Deluge  tablets  found,  22;  Baby- 
lonian story  of,  199ff.;  Genesis 
narrative  from  two  sources, 
208;  Genesis  story  of,  derived 
from  Babylonia,  208 

Demons,  influence  of,  145;  exor- 
cising of,  146 

Der,  82 

Dhorme,  167,  188,  191,  194,  204 

Driver,  Samuel  R.,  96,  208 

Drunken,  Babylonian  gods,  120 

Duads,  83 

Dumu-zi,  79 

Dumu-zi-zu-ab,  79 

Dun-gur,  79 

Dun-pa-uddu,  79 

Dun-shagga,  79 

Dupuis,  Charles  Francois,  223, 
224 

Durilu  (Der),  82 

Dur-Sharrukin,  59 

Ea,  god  of  Eridu,  53,  63,  79,  81, 
86,   104,   115,   126,   168,   171, 


173,  176,  188,  189,  190,  191, 

193,  200,  205,  206,  210,  213 
Eabani,  195,  196,  197,  198 
E-gish-shir-gal,  164 
Egypt,  1,  66;  religions  of,  143 
Ekimmu,  148 
E-kur,  80 
Elam,  54,  69 

EUil,  or  En-lil,  54,  79,  161,  201 
E-makhtila,  178 
En-bi-lu-lu,  178 
En-gubarra,  79 
En-lil  (see  Ellil)  identified  with 

Bel,  80 
En-shag-kush-an-na,  54,  80 
Enuma  elish,  104 
Erech,  ancient  Warka,  21,  54,  81 
Ereshkigal,  192 
Eridu,  oldest  city,  53,  188 
E-sagila,  175,  178,  179 
Esarhaddon,  65,  66,  67,  68 
E-sharra,  126 
Etana,  story  of,  186 
Ethical  message  in  Marduk  and 

Ashur,  98 
Ethical  values  in  incantations, 

157ff. 
Euphrates,  199,  207 
Evil-merodach,  72 
Expository  Times,  89,  90 
E-zida,  172,  175,  178,  179 

Fifth  tablet  of  creation,  128 
Fiorillo,  librarian  at  Gottingen, 

27 
Fire  god,  149,  151 
First  tablet  of  creation,  107 
Fish,  era  of,  216 
Flandin,  E.,  13,  14 
Flood,     Babylonian     story     of, 

199ff.     See  also  Deluge. 
Food  of  life,  190 
Fossey,  Charles,  5,  46,  175 
Fourth  tablet  of  creation,  120 
Fox,  story  of,  186 
French  expedition,  21 

Gal-alim,  79 
Gal-dim-zu-ab,  79 
Ga-tum-dug,  79 
Ghosts,  76 

Gildersleeve,  B.  L.,  225 
Gilgames,  story  of,  186,  194fT. 
Gir,  195 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


231 


Gishku,  54 

Gishzida,  189 

Goddesses,  list  of,  79 

Gods,  list  of,  79 

Gray,  C.  D.,  170 

Grotefend,  Georg  Friedrich,  27ff. 

Gudea,  22,  161,  162 

Gunkel,  Hermann,  194 

Gur-mu,  79 

Gushea,  168 

Gutira.     See  Gushea. 

Hal^vy,  Joseph,  50 

Hallel  Psalms,  180 

Hamath,  94 

Hammurabi,  code  of,  24,  55; 
sixth  king  of  first  dynasty, 
54,  55,  59,  64 

Hannover,  34 

Harmony  between  heaven  and 
earth,  216 

Harper,  Robert  F.,  55,  163 

Hastings,  J.  H.,  55,  74,  143 

Haupt,  Paul,  45,  92,  194 

Haynes,  J.  H.,  23 

Heathenism,  Arabic,  2 

Hebrews,  2;  akin  to  Baby- 
lonians, 4 

Hehn,  175 

Henotheism,  166 

Hibbert  Lectures,  103 

Hillah,  21 

Hilprecht,  H.  V.,  5,  57,  161 

Hincks,  Edward,  36,  37,  40 

Historical  inscriptions  first  stud- 
ied, 42 

Holborn,  Alfred,  208 

Hommel,  Fritz,  90,  92,  223 

Honey  image  for  incantation, 
152 

Hrozny,  94 

Hymns  to  the  gods,  159ff. 

Hystaspes,  31,  33,  35 

Identification  of  one  god  with 

another,  164,  166 
Igigi,  119,  176 

Ilu-bi-'-di,  94.     See  Ja-u-bi-'-di. 
Im-mi-khu  (?),  79 
Im-pa-ud-du,  79 
Incantation,  a  pure,  122 
Incantations,     vitality     of,     in 

Babylonia,  153,  154 
Innanna,  79 


Iran,  28 

Irini,  167 

Ishtar,  63,  69,  72,  79,  85,  87, 

167,  169,  170,  181,  214 
Ishtar  of  Arbela,  64,  69,  88 
Ishtar  of  Nineveh,  64,  69,  88 

Jahweh,  tablets,  91;  the  name 
not  an  exclusive  possession  of 
the  Hebrews,  95;  among  the 
Babylonians,  93 

Jastrow,  Morris,  Jr.,  47,  48,  50, 
74,  78,  87,  116,  143,  161,  163, 
165,  171,  175,  177,  180,  182, 
201 

Ja-u-a,  93 

Ja-u-bani,  93 

Ja-u-bi-'-di,  94.  See  also  Ilu- 
bi-'-di. 

Ja-u-um-ilu,  90 

Ja-ve-ilu,  91 

Jensen,  Peter,  45,  103,  204,  223 

Jeremiah,  140,  154 

Jeremias,  Alfred,  65,  92,  128, 
188,  191,  194,  204,  206,  212, 
215,  217,  218,  219 

Jeremias,  Friedrich,  47 

Jerusalem,  181;  destroyed,  71 

Jevons,  75 

Job,  134,  159 

Johns,  C.  H.  W.,  55 

Jonah,  10 

Judaism,  2 

Jupiter,  128,  214 

Kadi,  79 

Kalah  Shergat,  19,  20 

Kassites,  56 

Kengi,  53 

Kent,  Charles  F.,  208 

Khi-gir-nunna,  79 

Khi-shagga,  79 

Khorsabad,  Assyrian  mound,  12; 
explored  by  Botta,  12;  the 
palace  of  Sargon,  13;  excava- 
tions by  Layard,  20;  inscrip- 
tions, 38 

Khumbaba,  196 

King,  Leonard  W.,  5,  24,  36,  46, 
47,  56,  61,  103,  104,  105,  108, 
109,  112,  167,  168 

Kingu,  112,  114,  123,  124 

Kish,  54,  80 

Kishar,  108 


232 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


Knudtzon,  J.  A.,  45,  187 
Koldewey,  23 
Kottabos,  225 
Ku(?)-anna,  79 
Kuyunjik,  10,  11,  20,  46,  100 

Labartu,  series,  147 

Labasu,  147 

Lagash,  54 

Lakhamu,  108 

Lakhmu,  108 

Lama,  79 

Lamassu,  174 

Lang,  Andrew,  225 

Larsa,  54,  84 

Lassen,  Christian,  34 

Layard,  Austen  Henry,  visits 
mounds  of  Kuyunjik  and  Nebi 
Yunus,  14;  also  Nimroud,  14; 
returns  to  Constantinople,  15; 
assisted  by  Canning,  15;  de- 
scribes Nimroud,  16;  makes 
discovery  there,  17;  employs 
Rassam,  18;  discovers  palace 
of  Shalmaneser  I,  18;  finds 
inscription  of  Shalmaneser  II, 
19;  excavates  at  Kalah  Sher- 
gat,  19;  finds  inscription  of 
Tiglathpileser  I,  20;  discovers 
palace  of  Sennacherib,  20; 
finds  portion  of  Ashurbani- 
pal's  library,  20;  excavates  at 
Kalah  Shergat,  Nimroud,  and 
Khorsabad,  returns  to  Eng- 
land and  publishes  results, 
20 

Lehmann-Haupt,  C.  F.,  92 

Lenormant,  Frangois,  42,  43 

Leviathan,  135.     See  Rahab. 

Libra,  223 

Life  after  death  in  Babylonia, 
210 

Lil  (ghost),  76 

Lilitu,  77 

Lilu,  147 

Lipush-e-a-um,  94 

Littledale,  R.  F.,  225 

Local  gods,  78 

Loftus,  William  Kennett,  21 

Lohr,  Max,  92 

Lugal-banda,  79 

Lugal-Erim,  79 

Lugal-shag-Engur,  54 

Lugal-zaggisi,  prayer  of,  161 


Magical  or  incantation  tablets, 
144 

Malkatu  (A),  79 

Ma-ma,  79 

Maqlu,  the  series,  146;  second 
tablet  of,  148ff. 

Marduk,  55,  56,  59,  65,  66,  73, 
80,  81,  82,  85,  104,  105,  106, 
114,  115,  119,  120,  121,  124, 
125,  129,  131,  134,  139,  153, 
160,  166,  173,  175,  176,  181, 
214,  217;  hymn  to,  177; 
prayer  to,  71 

Marduk-nadin-akhe,  58 

Mars,  87,  214 

Marti,  Karl,  96 

Maspero,  70 

Medes,  69 

Media,  34 

Median  language,  36 

Memphis,  66 

Mercury,  214 

Merodach-baladan,  63,  64 

Merx,  Adalbert,  208 

Meyer,  Eduard,  50,  51 

Mohammed,  1 

Mohammedanism,  1,  142 

Mohl,  Julius,  13,  14 

Mongols,  50 

Monotheism,  89,  97,  166;  eth- 
ical, 89,  141;inlsra3l,  140 

Morgan,  Jacques  de,  24 

Moses,  140 

Mosul,  10,  13,  100 

Mugheir  (Ur),  21 

Miiller,  Friedrich  Max,  225 

Mummu,  107,  109 

Miinter,  Friedrich,  26,  28 

Muss-Arnolt,  204 

Myths,  mixture  of  Sumerian 
and  Semite,  51;  not  to  be 
used  as  sources  of  theology, 
185 

Nabonassar,  216 

Nabonidus,  72,  160 

Nabopolassar,  70,  74 

Nabu,  64,  66,  69,  85,  154,  173, 

174,  214 
Nabu-na'id  (Nabonidus),  72 
Nana  79 
Nannar  (Sin),  79,  149,  163,  164; 

hymn  to,  163 
Nebo,  85 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


233 


Nebuchadrezzar  1,57,72,160,163 
Nebi  Yunus,  mound,  10,  1 1 
Necho,  68,  70 
Nergal,  69,  79,  84,  86 
Nergalsharusur  (Neriglissar) ,  72 
Nerigal  and  Ereshkigal,  story  of, 

187 
Nesu,  79 
Nibir,  128 
Nidaba,  79 

Niebuhr,  Carsten,  25,  28 
Nile,  66 
Nimroud,  20 
Nina,  79 
Nin-a-gal,  79 
Nin-agid-kha-du,  79 
Nin-asu,  79 
Nin-dar-a,  79 
Nin-din-dug,  79 
Nin-e-gal,  79 
Nineveh,  2,  6,  9,  70 
Nin-gal,  79 
Nin-gir-su,  79,  84,  162 
Nin-gish-zi-da,  79 
Ninib,  63,  69,  87,  166,  178,  181, 

200,  205,  214 
Nin-khar-sag,  79 
Nin-ki,  79 
Nin-mar,  79 
Nin-shakh,  79 
Nin-shul-H,  79 
Nin-si-na,  79 
Nin-sun,  79 
Nin-urum,  79 
Nippur,  54 
Nisan,  177 
Nisir,  mount,  204 
Nisroch,  65,  66 
No-return,  the  land  of,  191 
Nudimmud,  108,  126.     See  Ea. 
Nu-ku-sir-da,  79 
Nun-gal,  79 
Nus-ku,  149 

Cannes,  81.     See  also  Ea. 

Oettli,  Samuel,  92 

Omorka,  138.    See  also  Ummu- 

Khubur  and  Tiamat. 
Oppert,  Jules,  21,  36,  40,  128 
Ox  and  Horse,  story  of,  186 

Pantheon  of  Shalmaneser  II,  87; 

of  Sennacherib,  87,  88 
Papsukal,  193 


Pa-sag,  79 

Pathros,  67 

Penitential    psalms,    180ff.,   the 

most  beautiful,  182 
Persepolis,  25,  27,  36,  37 
Persia,  1,  34 
Persian  Gulf,  53 
Persian  inscriptions,  27 
Peters,  John  P.,  23 
Pinches,  T.  G.,  50 
Polyhistor,  65 
Polytheism,  88,  97,  190 
Prayers,  161ff. 
Price,  I.  M.,  162 
Priesthood  in  religions,  142,  143 
Prospero,  138 
Psalms,  penitential,  180ff. 
Psalter,  Hebrew,  161 
Psammeticus,  68 
Pul  (Tiglathpileser  IV),  61,  62 

Rabisu,  147 

Radau,  H.,  94,  161 

Rahab,  134.  See  also  Leviathan. 

Rainbow  in  Genesis,  205 

Raising  of  the  Hand,  Prayer  of, 
167 

Ramman,  66,  85,  166 

Rassam,  Hormuzd,  employed  by 
Layard,  18;  begins  mdepend- 
ent  excavations,  21;  recovers 
major  part  of  library  of  Ashur- 
banipal,  22;  discovers  deluge 
tablets,  22;  excavates  at  Bal- 
awat,  22;  discovers  library  of 
Ashurbanipal,  101 

Rawlinson,  Sir  Henry  C,  copies 
Behistun  inscription,  35;  de- 
ciphers Persian  texts,  35,  36; 
publishes  memoir,  39,  40,  102 

Reisner,  George,  45 

Religion,  study  of,  1;  of  Baby- 
lonia, periods  of,  74 

Resemblances  between  Genesis 
and  Babylonian  creation 
story,  138-140 

Revelation  of  God,  228 

Rich,  Claudius  James,  born  in 
Dijon,  6;  explores  in  Babylon, 
7,  8;  and  at  Nineveh,  9;  died 
at  Shiraz,  9 

Rituals,  incantation,  146 

Rogers,  Robert  W.,  5,  6.  19,  36, 
39,  50,  73 


234 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


Roscher,  47 
Rostock,  26 
Royal  Asiatic  Society,  40 

Sacred  books  in  religions,  142, 143 

Sacy,  de,  28 

Sala,  85 

Sarangia,  34 

Sargon  I,  80,  106 

Sargon  II,  62,  94 

Sarzec,  Ernest  de,  22 

Saturn,  87 

Saul,  218 

Saulcy,  de,  36 

Sauveplane,  194 

Sayce,  A.  H.,  42,  44,  47,  50,  76, 

83,  89,  95,  102,  128,  170,  182, 

190,  191,  206 
Scheil,  55 

Script,  the  Sumerian,  132 
Scythians,  69 

Second  tablet  of  creation,  113 
Sellin,  Ernst,  94 
Semites,  dress  of,  51 ;  originated 

in  Arabia,  50 
Sennacherib,  20,  63,  64 
Seventh  tablet  of  creation,  130 
Sexagesimal  system,  216 
Shala,  85 
Shalmaneser  I,  18 
Shalmaneser  II,  19,  22,  60 
Shalmaneser  IV,  62 
Shamash,  62,  63,  66,  72,  79,  84, 

149,  150,  151,  160,  172,  181, 

193,  214;  hymns  to,  159 
Shedu,  147,  148,  174 
Shid,  79 

Shipat-Eridu,  176 
Shirpurla,  54 
Shurippak,  199,  200 
Shurpu,  the  series,  147;  second 

tablet  of,  157ff. 
Sickness,  incantation  for,  148 
Siduri-Sabitu,  198 
Sin  (god),  64,  69,  79,  83,  150, 

151, 165, 168, 191, 193,  214,217 
Sin  as  the  cause  of  misfortune, 

159 
Sippar,  84,  160 
Sixth  tablet  of  creation,  129 
Smith,  George,  deciphers  deluge 

tablets,  22;  excavates  at  Ku- 

yunjik,  22;  dies  at  Aleppo,  22; 

first  discovery,  41,  206 


Sogdiana,  34 
Solomon,  218 

Speculations,  Babylonian,  in  Is- 
rael, 133 
Sullivan,  E.,  225 
Sumer  and  Akkad,  67 
Sumerians,  50,  51 
Susa,  24 

Susian  language,  36 
Syria,  1,  62 

Ta'anek,  94 

Talbot,  Fox,  39 

Tallquist,  K.,  148 

Tammuz,  189 

Tashmetu,  154 

Taylor,  J.  E.,  21 

Tehom  (Tiamat),  137 

Tell-el-Amarna,  187 

Telloh,  22 

Tema,  73 

Texts,  religious,  difficulty  of,  3 

Thebes,  68 

Theory  of  the  universe,  211 

Third  tablet  of  creation,  117 

Thompson,  R.  C,  36,  46,  158 

Thureau-Dangin,  94,  161,  162 

Tiamat,  104,  111,  115,  116,  117, 

118,  130 
Tierkreis  (zodiac),  214,  216 
Tiglathpileser  I,  20,  39,  40,  58 
Tiglathpileser  IV  (Pul),  61 
Tigris,  57 
Tirhaqa,  66 
Ti'u,  147 

Toothache,  the  worm  of,  157 
Tree  of  life,  190 
Triads,  82,  85 

Triad  (Anu,  Ellil,  and  Ea),  109 
Tychsen,  Olav  Gerhard,  26,  28 
Tyrrell,  R.  Y.,  225 

Ummu-Khubur  (Tiamat),  112 

Ur,  21,  54,  84.  See  also  Mug- 
heir. 

Ur-du-zi,  79 

Ur-e-nun-ta-ud-du-a,  79 

Ur-Nina,  54 

Uruk,  195 

Ut-napishtim,  198,  206,  207. 
See  also  Xisuthros  and  Atra- 
khasis. 

Utu  (Shamash),  84 

Utukku,  147,  148 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  SUBJECTS 


235 


Valle,  Pietro  della,  25 
Venus,  85 
Virolleaud,  Charles,  46 

Warka,  excavations  at,  21 
Water  of  life,  194 
Weber,  Otto,  167 
Weissbach,  F.  H.,  36,  50,  177 
Weltanschauung,  211 
Westergaard,  Niels  Louis,  36 
"When   the  Euphrates  arose," 

186 
Winckler,  Hugo,  57,  61,  65,  72, 

187,  194,  204,  211,  212,  214, 

217,  222 
Witcheries,  168 


Xerxes,  31,  33,  35 
Xisuthros,  206.     See  also  Atra- 
khasis  and  Ut-napishtim. 

Yah  we,  91.     See  also  Jahweh. 

Zagros,  50 

Za-ma-ma,  79 

Zar-mu,  79 

Za-za-ru,  79 

Zi  (spirit),  75 

Zimmern,  Heinrich,  45,  92,  103, 

108,  116,  128,  157,  165,  167, 

182,  187,  191,  194 
Zodiac,  213,  216.    See  also  Tier- 

kreis. 


INDEX  OF  BIBLICAL  PASSAGES 


Gen.  1.  1-2.  4a 137 

1.  2 137 

1.  3-5 138 

1.  6-8 138 

1.9-13 138 

1.  14-19 139 

1.  20-25 139 

1.  26-31 139 

3.  22 190 

9.  8-17 205 

Exod.  3.  13ff 95 

6.  2ff 95 

20.4 220 

Deut.  4.  15,  19 221 

17.2ff 221 

Judg.  6.  36-40 121 


1  Kings  14.  4 94 

2  Kings  15.  19 61 

19.36,37 65 

25.  27ff 72 

1  Chron.  5.  26 61 

Job  9.  13 135 

26.  12,  13 135 

Psa.  74.  12-17 136 

89.  8-12 134 

Isa.  34.  14 77 

40.  25,  26 220 

47.  13 221 

Jer.  39.  3,  13 72 

Amos  9.  3 135 

Nahum2.  8 67 


BL1620.R72 

The  religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00108  9616 


